Ripples
by the real narnia
Summary: After dying in her original world, a girl goes to the Fairy Tail universe, hoping to change things for the better. But does her appearance there make it better, or worse? Fix-it fic. OC/Laxus, Nalu, Gale, Gruvia, Jerza, Elfever, etc. Spoilers for EVERYTHING. Warning for Heavy Violence, Mental Issues, and Swearing. No smut, but references sex. NOW WITH DRAGON SLAYERS INCLUDED.
1. Elle, Part One

**Disclaimer: I only own my OC and crazy magic. Despite my teasing, I have a massive amount of respect for Mashima, who created this lovely universe in the first place. Spoilers for EVERYTHING (and I mean fucking EVERYTHING).**

 **Lots of changes. Diverges from canon a lot, with only some things coinciding and only a few arcs happening in the right order.**

 **Warnings for swearing and violence. Will be both angsty and fluffy (and more than a little crazy). You may end up laughing or crying. Or staring at the screen in shock. Much squealing may be caused. No smut, but references to sex, rape, or bodily functions. Mental disorders including but not limited to: PTSD, depression, kleptomania, etc. Many possible triggers. More singing than I planned for. Breaking the fourth wall (a little). FULL ON CALAMITY. Beta'd by myself.**

 **Also on AO3, Quotev, and Wattpad, if one of those sites are preferred.**

 **Enjoy, and welcome to the bandwagon!**

* * *

 **Chapter One - Elle, Part One**

I awoke to my new life in a bed, surprisingly enough.

I got out of bed, and started exploring my new house (which, upon looking out the window, was a decidedly small cottage in the middle of the woods). Upon reaching a kitchen table, I came upon a pile of books, and a magazine with today's date. On it was a sticky note that said – _Today is your 9_ _th_ _birthday. Good luck on your adventure! These books should help you with what you need. I'll be excited to see how it turns out._

I peeled off the sticky note and looked at the magazine. _Sorcerer Weekly_

In the top right corner was the date; May 1st, X772.

It was real.

* * *

I had never been in a car accident in my life.

I guess, even now, I still haven't really been in a _car_ _accident_. I wasn't anywhere near the two cars when they crashed, I just got hit by a flying vehicle half way down the road.

I did not see my life flash before my eyes; hell, I didn't even know there was a car coming my way until someone started screaming. So I turn and-

SPLAT.

Then I was a pancake. Flat, and well, not really a pancake because I was covered in blood and I'm not really food (I mean unless you're a cannibal) and I'm gonna stop now cause it's getting morbid.

The point is, I got hit by a flying car, and died.

Not one of the best ways to start the day, I'll admit.

And now I'm here. In a library. Which I'm pretty sure is the afterlife, seeing as how my body doesn't hurt and I feel perfectly fine, and I'm fairly sure that I've never been cleaner or looked prettier in my life.

I peeked my head out into the hall, so I could see the rest of the bookcases.

My eyes widened as I comprehended how big this jungle was.

It didn't end! The rows of books just went on and on and on until it got so far away I couldn't even see what I was looking at.

 _Maybe it's just the angle?_ I wondered. I moved over to the table in the middle of the row, and climbed on top of it. Carefully shuffling my way over to the bookcase, I placed my foot on a lower rung, and slowly reached my hand up to the top shelf.

"What are you doing?" a voice came from behind me.

I jumped in fright and let go of the bookcase.

"Fuck!"

Landing on the ground, I realized that it didn't hurt, and getting back up, it seemed like the fall had not affected or hurt my body in any way. The curse had been instinctual – there was no actual pain.

Oh, right. I was dead.

Someone giggled behind me, and I turned to see a small girl, of about seven or eight years old at the most.

I blinked at her. "How the hell are you dead? You look what, eight?"

She giggled again (which is good, considering that what I had just said was really rude and untactful, and hey I died earlier today, alright?). "No, silly, I'm not dead! This is my library!"

I really hope she doesn't mean what I think she means.

Because if she did, then I just cursed in front of God.

Shit.

I mean…oh just fuck it.

"Sorry for cursing," I said sheepishly, rubbing my hand behind the back of my neck. "It's kinda gotten instinctual at this point. But, if you don't mind me asking, what exactly happens now…my...lord?"

She full out started laughing. "I spend most of the time in this form for a reason! You don't have to treat me like that silly! I'm trying to make you more comfortable."

"Uh, having an all-powerful being looking younger than me isn't that reassuring."

"Hmm, how about this:" And then she turned into Zeus.

Not _actually_ Zeus, but like…twelve feet tall with a big beard and super intimidating presence and I squeaked, "While I didn't like the kid form it was better than this one!"

He laughed again, and turned back into a woman, slightly taller than me. She had a motherly air, and for the first time, I fully relaxed in her presence.

"Now," she said, clasping my hands down and pulling me to the table. "Let's take a look at your book!"

"My book?" I asked.

"Yes, this library contains the records of every soul that has passed through. And yours is right…here!" she pulled a book of the shelf. It was surprisingly large (probably over two thousand pages), considering I had died at…fuck, was today my birthday? Dammit, I died on my nineteenth birthday?

"Isn't that a bit large?" I asked.

"Yes, it is, but you are very smart and creative, so it has a large concentration of your thoughts and ideas."

 _All_ my thoughts and ideas. "Could I possibly get a copy of that later?"

She laughed, "We'll see. Now…Eleanor Rigby."

Oh yes, laugh at my name hardy har har. I get it. I've heard all of the jokes, trust me. That's why I go by Elle. Or sometimes Ellie or Ella or literally _anything_ else because I hate Eleanor. My name is _Elle._

She continued. "Born May 1st, 1998, in Boston, where you were put up for adoption. However, you were never adopted and decided to run away instead at the age of twelve. Upon finding an occupant-less apartment, you moved in and decided to start working at the age of thirteen, passing for a sixteen year old. Continued until the day of your death, when you got hit by a car."

A _flying_ car.

She closed the book. That was fast. "Any questions?"

"Yeah, I've got a few." I admitted. Okay…first I guess I should start with my previous life. "What happened to everyone else in the accident? Did anyone else die? Or get hurt?"

She opened the book again, flipping to the end. "You were the only fatality, however the others have broken several important bones."

Was it bad that I was a bit upset they weren't hurt more?

Oh well, since I'm dead they'll still go to jail for manslaughter. I think.

"Alright, what else?"

"Um…what do I do next? While this library _is_ very big, I highly doubt that all of us just move in here or something, that would be suffocating."

She laughed. "That's up to you. Your limit is your imagination."

I paused, thinking. _It is, huh…_

I started speaking slowly… "Is the multiverse string theory true?"

She looked surprised, but nodded. "If you're speaking of the one were anything imagined is created in another universe and becomes reality there, then yes."

"Would it be possible for me to be born into a fictional universe _with_ my memories from this one? Actually, scratch that, would it be possible for me to regress to a younger age and go there at a certain point in time?"

She was outwardly smiling now. "Well, I don't get requests like that often. But yes, it is possible."

 _It's possible._ "Would you be _willing_ to do it?"

She was beaming now. "Yes, yes I would this is the most exciting thing that has happened in years! You think with all of the creative output into the world that more people would request things like that, but noooooooo, it's always a series of ridiculous or boring things!" She calmed down now.

"Why are you so upset about it?" I asked.

She shrugged. "I tend to watch your stories," she said. "I'm an immortal being with nothing but time on my hands. The only thing I can do is get some variety by exploring people's lives."

"Alright, well, if that's the case, then let's set this up. Will you be able to give me things if I give you a list of requested objects/items?"

"Yes," she said, pulling out, surprisingly enough, some paper. She smiled at my look. "This will probably take longer than you think; as you suggest things, more ideas will come. Nothing too outlandish, though."

"Just tell me if I go to a point considered too far." I told her.

She smiled at me. "I'm ready."

"Alright, I would like appear into the Fairy Tail universe," I told her. With what little time I had, I would find myself immersed in the anime and manga. The way that I connected to the characters gave me hope despite my less-than-stellar life.

"Alright," she said. "Mage or non-mage?"

"Mage."

"Type?"

"Ahhhh….." I paused, thinking. "Can I get back to you on that, please."

She nodded. "Mmmmmhmmm. What else?"

I paused, thinking. Did I need anything else?

I nearly slapped myself. _Of course I did!_

"Would it be possible for me to have a small cottage in the woods near Magnolia, close enough for me to walk to the Fairy Tail guild hall easily, and big enough for me to live comfortably, plus a guestroom."

I hoped that wouldn't be too outlandish.

"Continue," she said, neither approving or disapproving.

"I don't want something too big!" I said quickly, hoping to convince her. "I just want a bedroom, and a kitchen/living area. Then, if possible, an extra room as a library/office, where I can plan out what I'm going to do, and then a guest bedroom. A bathroom with a shower and a tub big enough for two people to lay down in if needed. And then running water and electricity."

She nodded. "Doable."

 _Yes!_

"Would it also be possible to get enough money to eat and clothe myself properly until I can start a job as a mage?"

She gave me a look. "I suppose. However, you must start taking missions as a mage by the age of fourteen at the latest."

Longer than I was hoping for. "You've got it!"

"Are you finished?" she asked.

"Yes," I nodded.

"Alright, then let's get to some magic."

I paused, thinking. "Is there any way for me to get a list of the magics possible and any Lost Magics that I could learn."

She smirked. "If you make up a magic instead, I'll give you extra."

"Okay, then scrap that idea," I said, thinking. I wanted a type of Stellar Magic – both Lucy's Celestial Magic and Jellal's Heavenly Body Magic count as Stellar Magic. To be honest, those were some of the most impressive magics shown in the series, in my opinion.

 _Think, Elle. We're talking Stellar! What else has to do with outer space?_ Lucy's magic directly affects the spirits of the stars, and Jellal's magic uses 'heavenly bodies' which is just another name for meteors and asteroids and the like.

 _Let's see…that leaves mostly the moon and the sun – we've seen Moon Drip, which is a type of dispelling magic, but not much to do with the power of the sun…_

 _But I also wanted something to…do…with the elements…_

"Can I describe what I would want?" I asked.

"Possibly," she said.

"I would like something that I would call Planetary Magic. Where the power of each type of planet represents a type of element."

"What would you suggest?" she said, smiling. Her hands passed a paper and pen over to me.

"Let's see…" I said, thinking. "Earth, would definitely be Earth Magic. Mercury is associated with metals, so…" I thought of Gajeel "Iron Magic." "Venus could be Light Magic," I said, starting to get pumped. "Mars could be Fire. Jupiter can be Lightning. Saturn can be Sky Magic. Uranus could be…I'll get back to that. Neptune can be Water. And Pluto can be Shadow Magic."

"Pluto isn't a planet."

"Yeah, I know that, but I grew up thinking it was, and I also need some sort of dark magic to contrast with Venus. I was thinking maybe Uranus could be Ice?"

She looked at me, and then, slowly, she started to clap.

"Anything else?" she said.

"If possible, I would like Requip magic."

"For weapons?" she asked.

"Some, yes, but I was also hoping to keep a first aid kit and food and changes of clothes and other things that might be needed."

"Anything else?"

Well, if she's going to keep offering... "Transportation/teleportation magic, and a type of locating magic for finding people and specific magical items."

She smiled. "Are you sure? You won't get any others, any other magic you try will be difficult for you. And even with these, I'm not really giving you these powers. I'm giving you the tools you need to learn them, such as an affinity for them, a large magical core, and a library that will help you research this and other types of magic."

I frowned. "How can you have books on Planetary Magic? I just made it up."

She chuckled. "Now that it exists, it will be known as a type of Lost Magic – one you in particular have, along with any sort of tools you'll need to perfect it. How powerful do you want to be?"

"As powerful as you can possibly make me," I said. "I'll take care of the rest through training and practice, and I totally understand that I'll probably barely be able to do magic in the beginning and have to work extremely hard. But with all of the things that everyone goes through in the series, plus whatever changes happen because of me, I'm going to need as much help as I can get for everyone."

She nodded. "And what year do you want to be born?"

I stopped to think. Lucy was supposed to be…what, seventeen when the story starts? And Laxus, the oldest generation is supposed to be around twenty three… So maybe I'll be around twenty one going on twenty two? If Lucy was born in X767, then I would be born in…

"Year X763," I said aloud. "Is that it then?"

"Yes, if you're sure about this. You will be reverted to a childlike form, to an age younger than ten, so you can better adapt your magic."

"Yes." I nodded. I have never been surer of anything in my life.

"Then," she said, smiling. "It's time to start your new journey. Don't forget to have fun. Good luck, Elle."

I smiled as I realized that she had said my preferred name. "Thank you."

And then everything disappeared.

* * *

 **Ships will be: Laxus x Elle, Natsu x Lucy, Gajeel x Levy, Gray x Juvia, Jellal x Erza, Elfman x Evergreen, Freed x Mira, Bickslow x Lisanna, Erik x Kinana, and Sting x Yukino. Partners for everyone else (particularly Wendy (Chelia vs Romeo vs Mest (if I change the time skip)), Ultear and Cana) are up for grabs and open to suggestions.**

 **This will only be 1st POV from the OC – everything else will be 3rd, unless it's a letter/diary/journal type document.**

 **Also, I put a lot of work into this. If things seem odd, it's probably meant to be that way. It will be explained in time.**

 **Please review – they get me thinking and writing faster.**


	2. Elle, Part Two

**Alright, everyone, here's the next chapter! For those of you worrying about taking up endless chapters on her training, don't worry. While she will be training a bit in each chapter (for now) she will start interacting with actual characters in the next chapter. I don't want the training to be underdeveloped, but I also want to get the story started.**

* * *

 **Chapter Two - Elle, Part Two**

The first thing I did was read through all of the books on the table.

Well, actually, the first thing I did was explore the house, which was a nice, one story cottage. There was the master bedroom and a guest bedroom, both of decent size. The bathroom held a large bath with a showerhead above it, with a window to let out some steam.

I stopped exploring there and carefully considered my reflection. My hair (which had previously been an extremely dark brown color) was now a dark purple. My eyes (which had previously been a light blue) were now the color of ice.

They weren't big changes, but they were still changes.

I shook my worries away, accepted that I would get used to it, and continued exploring.

The kitchen led off to the kitchen table (where the books were) which sat in front of a pair of large sliding doors leading outside. To the right of the kitchen was a living room, with chairs and a sofa. There was also a door leading to a study, which I loved. There were floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, all filled with more information; everything from different types of magic, to the history of Fiore, to the laws and monetary system. One of the walls didn't have a bookcase, but instead a map of the country of Fiore, with Alvarez peeking through on the outskirts. At the other end of the study was a window, and under that, a desk.

When I was done exploring the house, I returned to the kitchen table, which was stacked with different types of books on the magic I wanted to learn _specifically_. I organized them based on the magic type, and separated any sort of intro to magic that I might need.

The most important ones I had to learn first were location magic, and then teleportation magic.

The location magic focused on how to find people, and how to find items. I wouldn't need the items for now, but people were first on the list.

At this point in time, I was nine. Most of the main characters in Fairy Tail were four going on five, or somewhere in that range. The dragon slayers (raised by actual dragons) weren't even in this time period. They wouldn't be until July 7th, X777, which was over five years from now. So I really couldn't do anything for them right now.

Carefully, I wrote out a timeline of upcoming events, which exhausted me. Most of it was guesswork, too. Man, would I love to have some internet. Or more specifically, the Fairy Tail Wikia.

So first things first; practicing magic.

I started with mediating, according to _A Beginner's Guide to Learning Magic._ Or, as I like to call it, _A Perfectly Reasonable Guide to Learning Magic Unless You're A Fucking Idiot Like Elle._

I stopped and glared at the book. Meditating was getting me nowhere. I _couldn't_ mediate. My mind just wouldn't shut down.

 _Okay, Elle, calm down, you can do this._ I reassured myself.

Fifteen minutes later I was getting angry again.

"Ahhhhhh!" I screamed again. I jumped up and started pacing. "Why isn't this working! This is fucking ridiculous! Why can't I-"

I stopped. There was energy coursing through me, I could feel it as I lived and breathed. I suddenly remembered a moment in Fairy Tail Zero, when Zeref taught the group magic. And when that happened, the normal way didn't work for Yuri, he learned by…exercising…

"Whooooohooooo!" I screamed, jumping into the air. "Now we're talking! Time to get this party started!"

I started running laps around my cottage. This was perfect. No, it was more than perfect! Not only was I increasing my magical capacity, but I was also increasing my physical stamina!

Except I forgot that I was never very good at exercising in the first place and that I was also only nine years old.

I had only ran two laps before I ran out of energy and collapsed on the ground, panting.

"Fuck," I breathed. But it was still a good start. Now that I could actively feel my magic, I might actually be able to meditate the normal way, so this was a good thing.

I waited for my (physical) energy to come back, and entered the house so I could get something to eat.

* * *

"Fuck!"

I stared at the empty pantry.

I was an idiot. Food should've been the first thing I checked. All my exploring the house, I didn't even open the pantry or the fridge. Now I need to go into town, buy food, and carry it all back here.

I stumbled over to the sink and drank some water from the tap. Unfortunately, I didn't have any cups either, so I had to scoop it up in my hands.

I walked back to the table and grabbed the paper and pen that was there. At least I had that.

Slowly, I began to make a shopping list.

It was pretty basic.

 _Kitchen shit_

 _Bathroom shit_

 _Office shit_

 _Gardening shit_

 _Cleaning shit_

 _Food_

 _There_ , I thought.

As for basic kitchen utensils, since I'm living on my own for now and not making any money, don't know how much any of this costs, and don't know how much money I even have, I decided to go as sparingly as possible, only getting one for me and a spare in case I lose one. I could just wash everything by hand, so there was no need for other things.

I had all the furniture I needed (for now) and the electricity and plumping was taken care of (something I needed to understand quickly in case it becomes _un_ taken care of).

Now, as for the money.

I peeked back into my study, where I was hoping there was a safe or something that I had missed the first time around.

Entering the room, I went to my desk.

There was a sticky note that said _Under the desk_.

I sighed and pushed the chair out of the way so I could crawl under the desk (which I could easily fit under because of my size).

Below it was a safe with a key, which was good because a dragon slayer could probably break in if it was a combination lock. The key was on top of the safe, along with a book and a wallet.

I grabbed the key, book, and wallet, and climbed out from under the desk. Inspecting the book, which was called _The Monetary System of Fiore_ , I saw another sticky note on it that said, _1,000 J equals appr. $20. The amount in this wallet should cover your first shopping trip. The rest is in the safe._

1,000 J was $20? Actually, that makes sense, considering how much Lucy had to pay for a meal and her apartment.

I put the book down on the desk, and pocketed the key and wallet, which contained 50,000 J. I really, really hope that that is overestimating and that the inflation here isn't so bad that it would really cost me $1,000 to go shopping.

I made my way down what seemed to be a trail (well, I really hope it was, but I can get lost really easily), and luckily found myself off the edge of Magnolia.

I entered the town and immediately noticed the guild. I stared at it longingly until I shook my head. _No Elle, come on, you need to get ready first. Once you've got everything you need, then you can go to the guild._ I turned around, and started looking for a supermarket.

After about ten minutes of searching, I finally gave up and accepted what I didn't want to be true – there were no supermarkets in Magnolia, and possibly not any at all in Fiore.

As I made my way to the Market District, which was easily found after asking directions, I desperately looked for some kind of cart or wagon I could use to carry all of my bought goods, because I didn't want to carry everything back.

I luckily found a furniture shop, where I went in and asked for a cart. I got some weird looks, probably because of my age, but I walked out of there with a large cart for 4,000 J. I've never bought a cart before, so I have no idea whether or not I got a good deal.

I continued down the street where I found an office supply shop, a gardening shop (where I bought tools and seeds for my own vegetable garden), a bathroom shop, and a kitchen shop.

I sighed. All of these little shops were making me tired, and I decided that when I had finished most of my plans that I was going to find someone who would make supermarkets a thing.

I had gotten everything I needed except for food. I started with bread from the bakery, and some meat and cheese from a deli. Afterwards, I went to a farmer's market, where I bought a series of fruits and vegetables that I actually like (as I'm really picky).

Finally finished, I checked how much money I had left and realized that the rest was probably for me to get some clothes.

I eyed the clothes shop before shaking my head. Nope. I could get that another time.

Passing a spices and herbs stand, I got a bottle of salt (already in a shaker, luckily) and made my way back to the forest where I lived.

* * *

Sighing, I finally entered my home again and breathed a sigh of relief. I filled one of the cups from the tap and greedily drank down the water.

Sighing (in content, this time) I put down the cup and started unpacking my items. I filled the fridge and the pantry, and put my office supplies in the office/library and the bathroom things in the bathroom. I moved my cart over to an extra space near the entrance of the house, and put the gardening supplies on the shelf above the cart. I guess it was like a mudroom?

I went back outside and decided to try meditating again. Sitting down, I closed my eyes, and, instead of trying to focus on nothing, focused on the magic I felt spinning through my body. I tried to manipulate it, but it was like grabbing water.

Taking a deep breath, I decided to start pushing it. This was (supposedly) the way to increase your magical container. My body was like a bubble, and I needed to stretch it out.

I pushed my magic harder and harder, until I could see a glowing behind my eyes. Opening them, I looked down at my body, which was shining with magical energy, the same color as my hair, a dark purple, almost black color.

I smiled and pushed with all of my might. My pure magical energy shot towards the sky, and I shouted in joy.

Step 1, complete.

I continued pushing my magic until I felt it nearly all disappear. I knew I had to stop before I hit Magical Exhaustion, so I stopped pushing. The loss of the energy and adrenaline running through me nearly made me collapse, and I decided to rest there for a bit, staring at the sky and enjoying the sounds of nature.

As I felt both my energy and my magic start to replenish, I made my way back inside the house, where I showered and changed into a nice dress. While there were a few clothes in my closet, they were nearly all dresses, and my dresser was completely empty except for undergarments. I would have to buy shorts, which I did prefer, as well as tennis shoes, because the only shoes I had were sandals.

After changing, I made me way outside and decided to try teleporting. I pictured the other side of my house and concentrated, almost picturing the space in between where I was and where it was fold, and then ghosting through that to the other side.

I opened my eyes.

Nothing happened.

"Dammit!"

I knew it wouldn't come that easily, but I was hoping it was a bit easier.

 _Alright Elle, try again._

I closed my eyes and pictured the front of my house. Instead of picturing myself pass through space to that point, I instead pictured myself appearing in the image I had of the front of my house.

I felt my magic rush through me, from the tips of my toes to the top of my head, and when I opened my eyes, I was standing in the front of my house.

I was elated that I did it, but completely exhausted. Despite the short distance, I still felt a large drain in my magic, and decided to get a lot of sleep. Tomorrow I would meditate in the morning, and then I would talk to Makarov.


	3. Cana

**Note: I did post a chapter yesterday, but I myself did not get the Carbon Copy email alert, so I'm not entirely sure it was sent out. I suggest you read Chapter Two if you haven't already.**

* * *

 **Chapter Three - Cana**

The next day, I started making teleportation trips.

I made two trips, and was halfway into town before I felt my magic drain out.

After resting, I sighed and decided to walk the rest of the way. My magic wasn't very strong yet, and the fact that I could only make two short trips before being completely drained wasn't very promising.

 _You're just starting, Elle. Give it a rest._

After several minutes of walking, I finally stood in front of the guildhall.

I took a deep breath and opened the door.

* * *

While it was certainly loud and festive, it was nowhere as crazy as it was in the future.

 _I wonder if it's Natsu's fault it gets so violent_ , I thought.

"Hey there, little lady, what are you doing here?" a man I vaguely recognized as a younger Macao asked me.

"She's older than Cana," Wakaba said, snorting.

Oh? That was interesting. _I didn't know Cana had already joined the guild yet._

"I would like to see the Master," I said.

"Oh, you're such a cutie-pie!" A girl squealed, hugging me. I recognized her vaguely as a girl named Enno, who was dancing on tables in one of the OVAs. I was also fairly certain she was Romeo's mother, but I had no proof of that, and I don't think it was ever confirmed. But Macao also ends up divorced later on, and Enno is no longer in the guild in the future, so…oh well, it's just a thought. "Come this way," Enno said, taking my hand. "I"ll take you to the master."

She took me up the stairs and down a hallway until we reached the master's door. "He's in there, sweetie! Don't be scared of him or anything, he's a nice old man, and he's even shorter than you!"

"Thank you, miss," I said, as she turned and went down the stairs.

I looked at the door before sighing and knocking.

"Come in!" said an older voice.

I opened the door and closed it behind me, walking to the center of the room to look at Makarov over the desk. "Hello Master Makarov. I come baring news of the future. I hope you will take the time to hear it, and listen to my plans."

His eyes widened, but other than that, he had no real reaction. Which was odd. I mean, how often do children walk into your office saying that they know the future? "What is your name, dear girl?"

"Eleanor Rigby, but I prefer Elle."

No reaction. I forgot the Beatles weren't a thing here. At least I don't need to worry about being teased.

"Alright, my dear girl, please sit down."

I took the seat across from the desk and began to start. "I know information of the upcoming future, though most of the information doesn't occur until after Year X784."

"Is there any way you can prove that you know this?" Makarov asked.

"Yes," I said quietly. "In the future, Fairy Tail will end up fighting the entirety of the Balam Alliance, though luckily the three main guilds are taken down at separate times. After that, Fairy Tail goes to war against Alvarez, Acnologia, and Zeref. These are the most important things to know. And while the Balam Alliance, with the exception of the master of Grimoire Heart, Master Hades, doesn't know about the Lumen Histoire, Alvarez does, and that is what the war is over."

He opened his mouth to say something, but paused and looked confused. "What is the Balam Alliance? Tartaros is known, and I know that Grimoire Heart is starting to become prominent, but I've never even heard of the other one."

I sat up in shock. _That's right! At this point in time Oracion Seis isn't formed. In addition to that, Ultear probably hasn't joined Grimoire Heart yet, and she was the leader of the Seven Kin for a reason._ "You probably shouldn't worry about it, because I think I'll be able to change it."

His eyes widened, and he sat back. "Can you prove that Lumen Histoire is more than just a name?"

"Yes," I said. "Lumen Histoire is actually First Master Mavis in a lacrima crystal, and an endless store of power. It's held in the basement."

"Please give me a minute," he said, before closing his eyes. Well, at least he knew to take me seriously now. "Alright. Do you have any sort of plans?"

"I have some," I admitted. "Most I'll be taking care of myself. Such as leading certain members of Fairy Tail here so that they join earlier. As for your help, I was hoping that you could get an MPF and have everyone do training sessions. You can measure the power of their strongest spell every few months, and work on increasing their magical power. I would also suggest everyone learning a secondary type of magic, such as teleportation or requip magic for emergencies. I'm also hoping to save the lives of several powerful mages and have them join the guild as well."

He nodded. "Those are smart ideas, and it would be good to implement that. Anything else?"

"Well, the Fantasia Parade shows of magical power and puts on a show, right? Well, why don't you also have an annual battle thing that happens on the other side of the year? You can have people pay to watch, which raises money, and we get to practice by sparring against each other."

He nodded. "Smart idea."

"Yes, especially because of the damage that's going to be caused."

"What?" he asked.

"Some of the main people who end up joining the guild are very destructive. I hope that, with our training sessions, they will get enough refinement and control over their powers that they don't end up breaking everything. More precision, you know? But it will be good to have some extra cash so we can pay for the damages they do cause."

I also hoped that by making Natsu stronger, he wouldn't just become _more_ destructive, but I didn't get my hopes up.

Master Makarov sighed. "Alright. I will start setting up training sessions. Is there anything else?"

"Yes, I have a few more things. Please tell your members to pick up any strong gate keys they can find. I will reimburse them if they buy it from a store, but those keys will be very handy in the future. And that's about it for now."

He nodded. "Alright. Will you be joining the guild?"

I smiled. "Yep."

He opened a drawer in the desk and pulled out a stamp. "Think of the color you would like. Where do you want it?"

I moved the back of my dress down and moved my hair out of the way. "Right in between my shoulder blades, please."

He pressed it down and I felt my magic taking it in. Master Makarov held up a mirror so I could see it. It was black, with a gold outline. "Nice," I said, smiling. It had come out perfectly. I had remembered that Levy's was white with an outline in a pinkish-orange color, and I wanted to have an outline on mine too.

"Now, let's introduce you to the guild!" he said, leading me out of the office.

"Actually, if you could wait to introduce me until after I get a strong hold on my magic?" I asked. "That's also why I had the mark on my back. Once I get the right clothes I'm going to have them laced up in the back so you can still see the mark, but if I put a jacket over it I can keep it hidden, which is also good in case I have to go undercover."

He gave me a look. "How old are you really, Elle?"

"Today, I'm supposed to be nineteen, but because of other circumstances (which is also how I ended up with knowledge of the future), I'm physically ten years younger than I am."

"I see," he said quietly. "Very well, I will not introduce you. You will still visit often, however?"

I smiled. "Of course. Have a nice day, master."

He smiled back. "You as well, my dear."

I made my way downstairs and managed to exit the guild without any other members of the guild – of _my_ guild seeing me.

My _guild_ , I thought fondly.

As I exited the doors I crashed into a small person.

"Sorry," I said, quickly stopping her from falling. Taking a step back, I quickly realized who it was. "Hi, I'm Eleanor, but you can call me Elle."

A five-year old Cana Alberona looked at me in slight confusion. "Like the letter?"

I giggled. "Yep. What's your name?"

"I'm Cana."

"It's nice to meet you Cana," I said, holding out a hand. "Why don't you take a walk with me."

"Okay," she said. She took my hand and we started walking to East Gate Park.

"So tell me about your magic!" I told her.

"How do you know I have magic?" she asked. "I'm not that strong. I've only just started and I'm only using cards to predict when my f- ah, when people come back from trips and stuff."

"Do you mind showing me your cards?" I asked. We had arrived at the park.

We took a seat underneath a large (and somewhat familiar) tree.

"Sure," Cana said, pulling out a packet. "Do you want me to read your fortune?"

"Hmm…maybe in the future. But why do you only try to do that? Cards are good for a variety of magic. You can summon elements, and use cards to transport objects…it's all super cool! People underestimate card magic a lot, too, but you could probably become an S Class Mage if you try hard enough."

"R-really?" Cana asked.

I nodded. "You're still pretty small, but I can feel your magic, Cana. You've got power just waiting to be tapped. If you start training every day, your magical reserves will grow, and you can become super powerful."

"Do you really think so?" she asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, and if you ask Master to help you and to give you books you need, you'll probably learn even faster!"

She smiled. "I'm gonna do it! I'm gonna go train!"

I smiled. "Then go get started, silly! I need to get going home anyway, I've got my own training to do. So how about we meet here every once in a while and we compare our training methods and strength."

"Cool!" she said. "I'll see you later Elle-nee-chan!"

 _Nee-chan?_ I smiled. "It was nice meeting you," I told her. "I'll see you at the guild!"

Helping Cana get motivated this early was another bonus, something I thought I wouldn't actually have to do for a while; I didn't expect her to be here this early. I got up, stretched, and teleported to my house.

When I appeared outside, I nearly collapsed, dizzy from the spell. It was probably too long a distance for a beginner, so I'd have to practice some more, but the fact that I made the distance was good.

I wonder what would happen if I didn't make the distance? Would I just end up somewhere halfway? How does that even work…

I shook the thought out of my head and went inside. I sat at the table and started eating some bread and fruit, and reading more about teleportation magic.

It was time to get back to work.

* * *

"What do you think, First?" Makarov asked.

Mavis Vermillion moved out of the shadows. "I think she's telling the truth, but you should probably wait and see."

"And her intentions?"

"I think they're in the right place. I suggest for now, we watch what she does, and the actions she takes. If it becomes troublesome or problematic, then we'll discuss things."

"Why are you here, anyway?" Makarov asked, curiously.

"I sensed a disturbance. I wanted to see what it was."

"Do you think it was Elle coming back in time?" Makarov asked.

"I don't think she particularly _came_ back in time," Mavis said. "I think she's a new variable."

Makarov sighed. "I was wondering; her magic doesn't seem strong enough if she went back in time."

"What makes you think that going back in time would send back magic?" Mavis asked. "If you only sent your mind back in time, your magic wouldn't come with it. It's not as if you magical container is a part of your spiritual body - it's a physical thing. They wouldn't keep their magic. If they tried hard enough, they could probably stretch their magical containers very quickly, because they remember what it was like, but I highly doubt their magic would continue with them, unless they stored it in an astral plane."

Makarov blinked. "Huh. I guess I always assumed differently."

Mavis sighed and walked to the window. "Eleanor Rigby is going to bring changes," Mavis said. "Whether they're good or bad, we'll have to wait and see."

"If she changes too much, won't her knowledge of the future be useless?" Makarov asked.

"Yes...and no," Mavis admitted. "Some things are destined to happen, and cannot - _will_ not be able to be changed."

Her gaze drifted outside. "And that's what I'm worried about."


	4. Juvia

**It seems like my email alerts aren't going out. That being said, I'm trying to at least update every other day. I hope Fanfiction fixes this soon. *hint hint***

* * *

 **Chapter Four - Juvia**

The next month went by slowly. I had a simple morning routine, in which I would get up, eat, and then go running. The running improved my stamina and my magical energy was starting to expand again as I concentrated on only my movements and my magic.

In addition to that, I read through the entirety of my books on teleportation and location magic, and a bit of requip.

I could maybe (at most) requip something the size of a large wardrobe at my current power level, but hopefully I would be able to get it much larger soon with more practice. In it I carried a bag of toiletries, a first aid kit, emergency money, a spare change of clothes, and some dry food in case it was needed.

The location magic was a bit tricky, but I was able to get it down.

I started by focusing on what I knew. I would use this to help Lucy find keys, and other sorts of magical items if anyone else wanted them. I would also use it to help find people (or more specifically, guild members).

I tested it by looking for Aquarius's key, which was, luckily, in the Heartfilia Konzern.

I tried again with Cancer, and got the same result.

Using the large map covering the wall in my study, I would imbue my thoughts and magic into a thumb tack and then throw it at the wall. I didn't have to worry about my aim or anything (which is good, because my aim is horrible). Even if I aimed for the complete other side of Fiore (while searching for Cancer specifically) the thumbtack still ended up with its pair at the Heartfilia Konzern.

That being said, I knew which person I wanted to look for first, but I needed Cana's help for that part.

* * *

"So what do you need me to do?" Cana asked me as we sat under our usual tree in the park. A while ago she had asked me why we didn't go to the guild, and I told her that I had had my reasons, and that she'd see me there sooner or later.

"I already know where she is, but I need to know what she's feeling," I said.

Cana blinked. "What she's feeling? Well, then I guess we'll just try pulling one card, and get more if you feel you need more. I've never done something like this, but if you want to know what she's feeling, you need to think of her in your mind, every single thing you know about her, or else the card will concentrate on you."

"What if I _think_ she's going to feel something?" I asked.

Cana shook her head. "It still shouldn't affect the reading," she said. "Are you ready?"

I nodded and closed my eyes. Cana put her head against mine and shuffled the cards several times, before she stopped and pulled out the one on top.

"The Three of Swords," she said. "If this represents her feeling, then she's probably feeling sorrow, loneliness, and sadness."

I nodded. "Thanks Cana. You've helped a lot. Now, I've got to go pick up a friend, okay?"

She smiled at me. "Alright Elle-nee-chan! I will see you soon then. Have fun."

I smiled down at her. "You too, sweetie. I've got to go now."

I phased into my library, and though panting, I still gathered a thumb tack and cast a spell to find this girl's location. The tack landed in Onibus and I sighed and sat down, exhausted.

"I've done enough for one day," I said quietly. "Let's just get ready for tomorrow."

I ate some dinner, showered, and then packed in case it was needed. I threw the suitcase into my requip space and crawled into bed.

Tomorrow I pick up Juvia Lockser.

* * *

I woke up fully rested and yawned, stretching. Onibus would be the biggest jump I would have made so far, but I think I could handle it. It wasn't too far from Magnolia, and I decided to start walking in that direction anyway, so I could lower the distance.

After going shopping, I had everything I needed.

I wore a pair of black yoga pants, tennis shoes, a white short sleeve shirt with the back laced up, and a black jacket.

The only difference in the rest of my wardrobe (with the exception of the dresses) where shirts and pants in different colors.

I made sure I had enough Jewel for at least two train tickets (I wasn't going to jump with Juvia).

When I reached the train station, I closed my eyes and pictured Onibus station.

Opening my eyes, I felt extremely drained, and collapsed on the ground.

I had made it to Onibus station, but I was extremely, extremely tired.

Luckily, I had collapsed in a not-very-public place, so I didn't cause a scene. I made my way over to a bench and pulled out some snacks I had in the requip space. It took a bit of time, since my energy was still depleted, but getting food into me would help me recover faster.

When I had finished eating and I had gotten enough strength to get up again, I sent the rest of my snack back and switched it out for Juvia's thumbtack – the same one I had thrown at the wall last night. The spell to find Juvia was still on it, but I had disconnected it from the map before I went to bed last night.

Holding my palm flat, I placed the thumbtack down and watched it spin before it pointed in the right direction.

I pocketed it in my jacket and went the way it was pointing.

Time to find myself a water woman.

* * *

Okay, so it was apparently a lot harder to find one person (even with a tracking spell) than I thought.

Honestly, I should have just gone straight to the orphanage.

There, I found Juvia sitting outside under a tree while it rained. There were a circle of kids around her, and they were all yelling at her.

"Oi, kids!" I yelled. "Scram, or I'll tell the Matron!"

Luckily, it was the right thing to say, as the kids all ran away and back into the building.

Which was good, because the next idea I had was throwing rocks at them, and that was a) kinda a dick move and b) probably not good for a first impression.

I walked up to Juvia's little form and squatted down.

"Hi," I said to her. "My name is Elle. Why were those kids ganging up on you?"

"They were upset because Juvia makes it rain, but Juvia cannot control it," the little girl said, sniffling. I would guess she was five years old.

"Your name is Juvia?" I asked her.

She nodded.

"That's such a pretty name," I told her. "And don't worry about your rain at all."

"What? But-"

"So you can't control it, so what?" I said, rolling my eyes. "You're a child! You have instinctive magic, and you shouldn't be expected to already know how to control it. And besides there's nothing wrong with the rain."

"There…isn't?"

"No, silly!" I said, holding out a hand. She took it and I pulled her up. "You just need to know how to have fun in the rain!"

"You can do that?" she asked.

"Of course!" I told her. "I'd rather have fun in the rain with a friend than not have any fun at all! And I'd much rather be here with you than be alone."

"You...you would?" she asked, crying.

I smiled at her. "Of course."

Juvia sniffled. "How…how does Juvia do that?" she asked.

"Come on, silly, dance!" I said, dragging her out into the empty street, which was full of puddles.

"But we'll get wet- oh."

"Yes, Juvia, but so what? We're already wet! Come on, it's fun. There's even a song about it!"

"There is?"

"Sure!" I yelled, taking her hand and spinning her. "I'm _siiiiiiiiiiinging in the rain. Just siiiiiiiiinging in the rain. What a glorrrrrrious feeeeeling I'm haaaaaaapppy again!"_

She started laughing.

"You better not be laughing at my singing; I already know it's bad!" I said. "But come on!" I spun her again. "I only know those words, but it's all you need to know. Sing with me! I'm _siiiiiiiiiiiinging in the rain! Just siiiiiiinging in the rain."_

" _What a glorrrrrious feeeeling I'm haaaaaapppppy again!"_ Juvia joined in, laughing.

We dropped, tired, and began laughing as we laid sprawled on the ground. "You see Juvia? There's nothing wrong with the rain."

She smiled, and as she did, the rain stopped and the clouds started drifting away.

"Wow…." She said, looking at the sky. "It's….so pretty."

"Come on," I said, getting up and holding out a hand for her. "This place isn't good for you, but if you come home with me you can join my guild. There, others can help you train your magic, and you'll be accepted no matter what! Our guild is a family!"

She started crying again, but this time, the rain stayed away.

"Can I see your guild mark, Onee-sama?" Juvia asked.

I should've known that Juvia would go for the most formal variation of older sister.

"Sure," I said, smiling and taking off my jacket. I turned around so she could see the mark on my back. "So how about it? Do you want to join Fairy Tail?"

She nodded. "Yes!"

"Then let's get your stuff. I'll speak with the Matron, don't worry."

Juvia led me inside and over to the Matron before she ran up the stairs to what was, presumably, her room.

"Hello Miss," I told her. "My name is Elle, and I'm a member of Fairy Tail." I turned around so she could see my guild mark. "I'm here for Juvia Locksar. I've given her an offer to join our guild and she accepted. There, she will learn how to control her magic. As you can see outside, it has stopped raining. Do you need to contact anyone else before we can leave?"

She blinked, before she asked, "Um...exactly how old are you?"

"Nine, ma'am."

"And...you're here alone?"

I nodded. "Yes, ma'am. I'm a mage, and I can take care of myself. I can take care of Juvia too, and you can at least trust me to get her to the guild hall so she can get set up."

The Matron hesitated. "Would you mind showing me your guild mark again?"

I nodded. "Sure." I turned around and moved my hair.

"Alright, then...this is acceptable. To be honest, I was thinking of contacting a guild about Juvia anyway. But since your mark is real, I have no problems with her going with you. Despite your...age, even though the matron in me is screaming. Will she be able to find a place to live?"

I nodded. "Fairy Hills, the girls Dormitory for Fairy Tail, is available to all female guild members for free until they're old enough to go on missions. The guild will supply her with food. She'll be fine."

"Onee-sama, I'm ready!" Juvia said from beside me. She was pulling a small suitcase behind her.

I smiled at her. "Good. Let me take care of this for you, though, I have some extra storage in my requip space." I took her suitcase and requipped it, so we didn't need to carry it. "Alright, let's go!"

Juvia grabbed my hand with hers and started pulling me down the road.

"Juvia, silly, you don't even know where we're going!" I said.

"But the train station is this way, Onee-sama!"

 _Well, she isn't wrong._ I laughed. "You know, you don't need to be so formal, sweetie."

"I like calling you Onee-sama," she admitted, clutching my hand tighter.

"Alright then," I said. "Now let's go home."

* * *

Several hours later, we stood outside the guild hall.

"Is there anyone like me, Onee-sama?" Juvia asked, still holding my hand.

"Like you as in, having a water body, or your age?" I asked.

"Both," she said quietly.

"As far as I know, I don't believe anyone has a water body. Actually, I'm not even sure that we have a water wizard," I said quietly.

Juvia gasped. "But how can they help Juvia then?"

I shook my head. "At the core level, magic is magic, same for everybody. Even if no one practices the same kind of magic as you, we'll still be able to teach you how to refine your control, which is where you need help. In addition to that, we have a large library that can help you. And if you find any of the books too complicated, anyone would help you understand."

Juvia relaxed. "Alright, Onee-sama. What about other children like Juvia?"

"Right now, the only other kids around are me, an eleven-year-old named Laxus who I haven't actually met yet, and another girl who is five years old. I'm sure other kids will end up joining soon, however."

Juvia smiled. "I am five years old."

"I'm sure you'll get along with her great. Her name is Cana."

"I heard you were talking about me," said a voice from behind us.

"Speak of the devil," I said, smiling at her. "Hello Cana."

"Hello Elle-nee-chan. Why are you talking about the devil?"

I couldn't help my laughter. "It's an expression, Cana. The full expression is ' _Speak of the Devil, and he will appear_ '. People typically say it when someone they're talking about ends up showing up."

"Ohhhh," Cana said.

"Anyway, this is Juvia," I said, gesturing to the bluenette next to me. "She's going to join the guild."

"Cool," Cana said, holding out a hand. "I'm Cana Alberona. It's nice to meet you Juvia! I deal with Card Magic."

"H-hello," Juvia said nervously, and I realized that this could be the first time making a friend for her. "Juvia is Juvia Locksar. Juvia practices Water Magic." She reached out her hand to shake Cana's but her's passed right through it.

"Woah!" Cana said. "Your body is made of water?"

Juvia looked away in what was probably shame, considering how those other kids treated her.

"That's so cool!" Cana continued.

"It is?" Juvia asked, surprised at her acceptance.

"Totally!" Cana said. "Maybe I can even try to integrate that with my Card Magic, it would be great for a quick escape, or for protection if I could change my body into water."

"See, Juvia?" I asked her. "Fairy Tail excepts everybody. Now…how about we get that stamp?"


	5. Laxus, Part One

**Hey everybody. One review, Leyan, pointed out that bringing in people will change their personalities. Yes, to an extent. Nature vs Nurture is about a 50/50 split when it comes to personality, but you will see people act a bit differently. Also, Elle didn't tell Makarov _everything_. Makarov knows the danger of knowing too much, and he's trusting Elle with the future. He doesn't want too many people messing with the future at all, so he's leaving that up to her.**

* * *

 **Chapter Five - Laxus, Part One**

I sighed as I entered to the guild.

Now that I had the basics of my other magics down, I turned to my planetary magic. I was able to manipulate the elements to a certain point, but I couldn't create them, and I definitely couldn't cast any spells with them. Most of the spells were pretty powerful, too.

"You are weak!"

I stopped in my tracks as I heard a voice.

"You are a failure, you weak little shit! I'm disappointed in you. How can my son be so weak? And after all I did for you!"

I followed the voice, sneaking along as I did so. Peeking into the training room, I saw something I didn't want to see.

Ivan Dreyar stood over his son, who he was yelling at angrily. While he didn't raise a hand to his son, I could easily see what it was; abuse. Verbal abuse was still abuse, and Ivan was a piece of shit.

"You should have never been born!" Ivan yelled as he stalked away. I hid as he neared the exit to the room, and then waitied for him to completely disappear before entering.

"Are you alright?" I asked quietly.

Laxus, who had faced the other wall to hide his tears, wiped angrily at his face. "I'm fine."

"You're not fine," I said. "Was that your father?"

He paused, still without looking at me. "Yeah."

"Well, your Pa's an idiot," I told him plainly.

At that, he spun around, and looked me in the eyes. "What?"

"You're only a kid," I said. "What, did he expect you to be one of the Ten Wizard Saints?"

He frowned. "Don't talk about my dad like that! He helped make me strong!"

That confirmed it. I had thought so, but I wasn't sure. I originally thought he didn't get the lacrima implanted until later, but he had a fresh lightning scar over his eye.

"He was yelling at you!" I said.

"He was encouraging me! He'll help get me stronger!"

"You're already pretty strong, you just need to train, stupid!"

"Don't call me stupid!" he shouted.

"Then don't be stupid!"

"I'm not being stupid!" he yelled back.

"Yes, you are!" I yelled. "He's abusing you!"

"No he's not!" Laxus yelled.

"There's more than one type of abuse, idiot. Yelling at you like that counts as abuse. Plus, you're plenty strong already, so it shouldn't even matter!"

He quieted down after that. "Really?"

I sighed. I knew I wasn't going to get anywhere with this argument for now. "Yeah, I could feel you outside the room. You just got to practice."

We were quiet for a bit. I noticed his eyes were a bit like mine, except they were the color of storm clouds, while mine still looked like moonlight.

"My name is Elle," I said, holding out my hand.

"I'm Laxus," he said, quietly taking it.

"Do you want to be friends?" I asked.

"I don't have any friends," he said quietly.

"Well then that means I get to be your first!" I said happily.

"But we were fighting," Laxus said.

I snorted. "So? Friends can still fight. Anyway, you're my friend now. So let's train together!"

A smile spread across Laxus's face. "Okay!" Laxus plopped down on the ground and started meditating. I smiled at him and sat down next to him, before closing my eyes.

* * *

At some point later, I was brought out of my meditative state by yelling. "You think that simply meditating will help you? You little weakling! You're a disappointment."

"Hey!" I yelled at Ivan. "Meditating is how you get stronger, only idiots don't know that. And you shouldn't yell at your son, dickwad!"

He looked at me, growing enraged, and I suddenly remembered that I was a tiny nine year old without much magical power. He threw a punch my way.

"Dad, don't!" Laxus shouted.

As the fist neared me, I quickly activated my teleportation magic, and phased out of the way.

Laxus looked kind of impressed, while Ivan only grew angrier. He activated his magic too.

"Dad, stop it!" Laxus shouted.

Ivan's weird paper doll things (seriously, what the fuck were they?) came flying towards me. I phased out of the way again, but the dolls just turned around and came after me again.

"Dad, I said STOP IT!" Laxus shouted. His magic activated and he gave Ivan a huge jolt.

Ivan's magic stopped in surprise, but not before one of the dolls sliced past my cheek.

I felt a sharp pain follow it, and then I felt warm blood start to spill out of the cut.

Ivan stared at his son murderously.

I quickly did the only thing I could think of.

I phased next to Laxus, grabbed his hand, and then phased directly into Makarov's office.

Makarov looked up from his work as Laxus and I phased in front of him. Once I had finished, I let go of Laxus's hand and nearly collapsed on the ground. Laxus, tiny eleven year old that he was, still managed to catch me, even though I nearly brought him down on the ground too.

Makarov stood up, unto the desk. "What happened?" he asked seriously.

"Elle?" Laxus asked as he led me to the couch. "Are you alright?"

"Just tired," I said, panting. "I've never teleported with another person before, and I teleported three times before that, too. They were relatively short distances, but still."

"Elle," Makarov's voice brought our attention back to him. "What happened?"

I looked at him, and tried to signal with my eyes that this had something to do with the future.

"Laxus, leave us please," Makarov said.

"Master, I would actually like Laxus here," I spoke up.

"You would trust him on this?" he asked.

I nodded.

"Very well," Makarov said. "Now, if you could please-"

"Oh, right. Master…what are you going to do about Ivan?"

He looked at me sadly, and sighed. "I suppose since you're asking, I do something in the future?"

"Yes," I said. "But I'm not exactly sure _when_ it happens."

"Alright," he said. "And you would like me too…?"

"Move your actions up," I said. "And go through them sooner."

"What are you talking about?" Laxus asked.

I didn't want to tell too many people, but I wanted Laxus to know. Since he was the only other kid here around my age, plus he was pretty strong, I was thinking of bringing him with me on certain quests I had to do. If he can trust my judgement on some things, that will make it easier.

"Laxus, I know the future," I said, turning to him. "And I'm here to help change it."

He stared at me in shock. "Really?"

I nodded. "Yes. For instance, when you said that your father helped you get stronger, you really meant that he implanted a dragon slayer lacrima in you."

"WHAT?" Makarov boomed, standing up and radiating magical energy. "ELLE, WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"

"She's right," Laxus said quietly, looking at me in shock and amazement. "Dad told me not to tell anyone."

Makarov calmed down. "I've been thinking about excommunicating him from the guild, but I didn't know what I would use to back up my decision."

"You have three reasons, actually," I told him. "One, he's verbally abusing Laxus." Laxus tried to protest that but I shut him up with a glare. "Two, he physically abused Laxus by placing the lacrima in him."

Laxus couldn't keep quiet anymore. "He did it to save my life, Elle! Look, I know you have something against him, and it probably has to do with future things, but he's still my father!"

"I know that!" I shouted back. "But he still hurt you Laxus! Do you have any proof that what he did saved your life?"

He quieted after that.

"And third," I continued, turning back to Makarov, "he attacked me. Granted I called him a dickwad, first, but who the hell attacks a kid, even if they call you that. And when I teleported away from his punch he sent his weirdo paper doll things at me." I pointed at my cheek. "That's how I got this. It probably would have been worse, if Laxus hadn't shocked him. Then I was scared of what he was gonna do to us so I grabbed Laxus and got out of there."

Makarov sat down on his desk. "I see."

"So what now?" Laxus asked.

"Now, I shall excommunicate Ivan. For the safety of the guild." He looked towards me. "You are not the first guild mate he has attacked out of anger, Elle, but you are certainly the youngest."

"No, you can't do that!" Laxus shouted. "Give him another chance, Jiji! Please, he's my dad! He's your son!"

"No, he isn't!" I yelled. "Laxus, he's not your family. Family doesn't abuse each other, or bully them. I know you say it's not abuse, but I know that those words hurt you when he says them! You want his praise, you want his love, but you're not going to get it, because it's not in his nature! All Ivan has ever done is hurt you! And that means he is not nakama!"

Laxus froze at that, and I was suddenly reminded _just_ how young he was, even though I thought that I had known. "Laxus, I know it hurts to hear, but it's the truth. Stop thinking about him! He's not your family, but _we are_. Fairy Tail is your family, Laxus. Your father may not love you but _we do._ "

And then I held out my arms to hug him and he collapsed in them, crying, and I could only hope that by him accepting us as family that it would stop him from ever even considering what he did at Fantasia.


	6. Laxus, Part Two

**Two chapters today, everyone! Thank you Leyan, for helping me write! Comments are my brain juice. *hint hint***

 **Also my alerts are back up! Yay!**

* * *

 **Chapter Six - Laxus, Part Two**

The next day, Makarov gathered everyone in the guild, and Laxus and I stood with him on the top floor as he made an announcement.

"Ivan," he said. "For being a danger to others, and harming your fellow guildmates, you are hearby excommunicated from Fairy Tail."

"WHAT?" Ivan cried. "How can you do this to me? I'm your son!"

"That does not excuse you from abusing your nakama!" Makarov bellowed, angry.

"Laxus, say something, I'm your father!" Ivan said, turning to the boy standing next to me.

I took hold of his hand, and squeezed.

Laxus took a deep breath and stared at Ivan. "You're not my father! Family does not abuse family. You may be my father by blood, but you are not nakama!"

I smiled at him.

Ivan's glare turned harsher, and his gaze turned to me. "This is all your fault, you little bitch!"

He prepared his magic, but before he could cast anything, there was a small shout from the side. " _Summon Lightning_!"

Several green beams went shooting towards Ivan, shocking him immensely. He turned his attention towards Cana, who was panting, but still stood tall.

"Now we've got other brats?" he sneered, turning back to Makarov. "What, you're turning this into an orphanage? Well, then I'll turn it into a graveyard!"

He prepared his magic and shot his odd paper things (really, what the fuck were they?) towards Cana. Makarov extended his arm, hoping to block them, but before he could, they were hit with a splash of water. " _Water Slicer_!"

Juvia stood next to Cana, and she was panting a bit more heavily, bent over with her hands at her knees, before she stood up and shouted, "You will not harm Juvia's nakama!"

Before Ivan could even blink, Makarov's giant fingers flicked him out the door. "Don't you ever come back!"

Before he could come back, Macao and Wakaba slammed the doors shut.

Makarov sighed, and shrunk back to his original size. "Kids, in my office, now!"

Laxus and I exchanged glances, and we followed Makarov down the hall. We sat down on his couch as we waited for Juvia and Cana to appear.

Juvia spoke first. "Juvia will not apologize."

Makarov smiled. "I'm not asking you to. I'm very proud of all of you, standing up for each other like that. That is the very definition of what this guild is supposed to be."

We all smiled at that.

"I'm also here to ask about progress reports," Makarov said.

"Progress reports?" Cana asked.

"Yeah, you see, we're gonna stick it to the old geezers and prove that we're the strongest generation!" I shouted. "So we gotta meditate every day, and practice developing our magic."

"Progress reports will let us know if you need any help with anything," Makarov said. "It will also let us know anything knew you developed, like those attacks I saw earlier. I hadn't recognized them."

Juvia and Cana both blushed. "Elle-nee-chan suggested that I use the elements for offensive cards, so I made some."

"Juvia wanted to surprise Onee-sama by showing her offensive spells after Juvia got ahold of the rain and her body."

"Well, you guys did!" I said, happily hugging them. "You guys did awesome, and I'm so proud. And it was so badass, too! Just, POW, out of nowhere, you're intercepting attacks."

Juvia and Cana both smiled and blushed at that, and I don't know what made me happier; watching them grow like this, or the fact that they did it because they wanted to make me proud.

No, that was a lie. It was definitely the latter. The fact that they looked up to me as an older sister made my heart feel like it was gonna burst. Back when I was in the system, I never got along with the other foster kids; it was everyone for themselves. And after that, I ran away, and I lived alone, only interacting with my coworkers.

But now, I had family. I had _nakama_.

As much as I loved Fairy Tail, I had previously thought that the story could get a bit ridiculous at some points, especially with how they kept going. Now, I understood. _This_ was what they were fighting for, and this feeling, in addition to the adrenaline and exhilaration of magic, made you feel on top of the world.

It wasn't as ridiculous as it had seemed after all.

* * *

After some more meditation with Laxus, Cana, and Juvia, I walked home, allowing my magic to replenish and build up.

I had to do some magic, and then I had to try something else, too.

I got home, grabbed an apple out of the fridge, and headed to the study.

I entered, looking at my map. It was maybe a quarter completed, with (poorly) drawn photos placing most people's location.

Now, to find a key.

I imbued my magic into the pin and closed my eyes. Stepping back like I was a pitcher, I let the tack fly and heard a _thump_ as it hit the board.

Bingo.

I opened my eyes and found the glowing tack.

Huh. Not where I thought it'd be.

But it didn't matter. It was about halfway between where I lived and my final destination, so it made my trip a bit easier.

I waited for the sun to set before I left. I had had a large dinner, making sure I was up for the long trip.

I grabbed the glowing thumbtack, stored it in my requip space, and teleported.

* * *

A lovely blonde haired woman entered her bedroom. She would be alone that night, as her husband was away on a business trip.

She turned on the light and let out a large gasp as it illuminated me.

"Layla Heartfilia," I said quietly. "I must speak to you."

Her hand went for the servant's bell by the door.

"Wait, I have a symbol of peace!" I yelled.

Her hands still.

"Or you know, a white flag, or whatever…the point is that I come in peace. I have knowledge of the future, which your daughter will end up playing a key role in. You need to start training her in Celestial Spirit Magic, if you haven't already."

"Say you're telling the truth," Layla said. "Would there be any way to stop her from being involved?"

"I doubt it," I said. "I understand why you want to protect her – she's your daughter. But fate has a way of making certain things happen, no matter how hard people try to change them. I'm here warning you so that you can train her. And if she does well enough, then she can have presents."

"Presents?" Layla asked.

"Yes," I said, holding out my hand. "My peace offering. I want this to be her first key. I know that she can summon your spirits, and that she already has a bit of a connection with Aquarius, but I want this one to be hers, specifically."

The Key to the Maiden laid in my hand.

"As for the presents, I will visit several times a year; Christmas, and her birthday, which are about the same distance apart. On those days, I will give her silver keys as presents, but if she can open all of her golden gates at once, I will give her another."

"What are you saying?" Layla asked, shocked.

"If she can open three golden gates at once, I will give her a fourth Zodiac key. She will not get the fifth until she can hold all four gates open. I will, however, still give her the silver keys I collect by then."

"And…you really think she'll be able to do it?"

"I think that if you start training Lucy immediately, and have her work hard, and spend more time training than on heiress things, that by the time she is eighteen she will be able to open all Zodiac Gates at once."

"All of them?" Layla gasped.

"That is what I believe, yes. I also suggest to throw away the heiress training. Lucy doesn't want to be an heiress, she wants to be a Celestial Spirit Mage and join Fairy Tail. Or at least…she will. I'm not quite sure when she starts wanting that in particular."

"Alright," Layla said. She reached out and took the key from my hand. "I'll start training Lucy tomorrow. After about a week or so, she'll make a contract with Virgo."

"Alright," I said. "I'll be back on Christmas Eve, with more keys and another gold one. If she can hold _all four_ open, she can have the key."

"All four?" Layla gasped. "You want her to hold open Aquarius, Cancer, Taurus and Virgo before you give her the next one?"

"Yes," I said. "If she can't do it yet, then she can try opening them all again on her birthday next year. She'll still get silver keys as presents, no matter what."

Layla nodded. "Alright. I'll try to contact Zoldeo so I can get Capricorn's key back. As for Taurus, Lucy hasn't interacted with him yet; he's contracted with Bero, the man I was going to have teach Lucy as she grew older. Grammi is holding Aquarius and Spetto is holding Cancer until Lucy was old enough, but if we're seriously going to start training, they should be passed onto her for good. But I'll ask Bero to come tomorrow to start teaching Lucy, and we'll see if she can make a contract with him."

I nodded. "I want both of you teaching her. Can you do that?"

I now understood why she went for the servants bell, and why she didn't have her keys with her; she had split them up among servants until her child was ready for them. I had forgotten about that. Layla couldn't actively use her magic anymore because of her disease, but she could still teach Lucy about techniques.

Layla nodded. "I'm a bit worried about Jude's reaction."

I snorted. "Jude wants Lucy to take over the Konzern. That's not going to happen, and just about everyone but him knows it. Tell him about this, and, if he still doesn't listen, I'll speak to him another time about it. But for now…start teaching Lucy. After all, Jude is away on a trip, and he won't be back for some time. So I think that for now, it's about time for Lucy to make contracts with her friends."

Layla smiled at me. "Thank you. Is there a way I may contact you?"

"I don't have a way just yet, but I'll try to bring something with me next time. I'll visit in two weeks. Is that enough time for Lucy to get started? Don't tell her about the keys, yet, I would like to do it myself. But tell her that she's going to be the Greatest Celestial Spirit Mage ever."

"Really?" Layla asked, looking teary-eyed and proud.

"Yes," I smiled at her.

"One last thing," Layla asked. "What is your name?"

"Elle," I told her. "Goodnight, Layla Heartfilia. It was a pleasure."

And then I teleported home.


	7. A Fluffy Filler

***suffocates from the fluffiness*. :)**

 **also you will not always get chapters this long, I just got reviews and PMs so I'm happy. :3. *hint hint***

* * *

 **Chapter Seven - A Fluffy Filler**

The next morning I woke up, still feeling exhausted. Checking my magical container, I wasn't surprised to see that it was only about halfway full.

After all the jumping around I had done yesterday, that wasn't very surprising. After the meditating with Laxus, Juvia, and Cana, I had jumped to a set of ruins somewhere in the mountains between Magnolia and the Heartfilia Konzern.

Once I was there, I had gotten some food and water from my requip space and used the tack to find the key of the Maiden. It was in the ruins of some treasure, and I couldn't help wondering how on earth Everlue had gotten his grubby little hands on it.

I had looked at the treasure around me and sighed, glad that I had worn shorts and that I had expanded my requip space. I spent the next hour or two getting down and dirty, putting treasure and jewelry and other unknown magical items in my requip space. To my surprise, other than the Virgo's key, I had also found several other keys, though I didn't know what they were, and one of them looked a bit odd. Those keys were buried pretty deep, though, so it took a while to get them out of the dirt. I put them in my requip space and put it out of my mind until later.

After that, I had changed into a dress from my requip space and wiped myself down with some water and a towel. That being done, I teleported to the Heartfilia Konzern and had a long conversation with Layla Heartfilia.

After that, I had teleported back to the ruins, so I could take a bit of a rest, and ate some food while looking around for anything else that I had missed. Looking around again, I found some books I had missed the first time around, and stored the tomes into my requip space, which was starting to get pretty full.

After that, I regained enough energy to teleport home, took a shower (kinda) and collapsed back into bed.

Looking at the clock near me, I couldn't help but notice that I had nearly slept until eleven. I got out of bed and decided to exercise/expand my magic.

Running outside, I couldn't help notice that, despite my depleted magical power, my container had gotten bigger. My requip space had, too, though I think that has more to do with me shoving it full of junk.

As I ran, I focused on the feeling of my muscles moving, my blood pumping, and my magic flowing. I felt in tune with my body, and it upped my strength and adrenaline. After I was finally exhausted, I stopped and looked at the house, realizing that I had run at least nine or ten laps.

Proud of myself, I went inside to shower (for real this time, not just wiping off dirt like last night). After I had finished and felt extremely clean, I changed and made a sandwich before teleporting to the guild.

* * *

"Ohayo minna!" I said as I walked into the training room. Laxus, Juvia, and Cana were already there.

"Where were you?" Cana asked. "We were worried."

"Sorry, I overslept, and then I had to do a few things. But I'm here now."

"Where does Onee-sama stay?" Juvia asked curiously.

"You know, that a good question," Laxus said, before turning to me. "Where _do_ you stay? None of us know where you live."

I smiled and laughed. "I'll take you there sometime. Have you guys already gotten some meditation in today?"

They all nodded.

"Good!" I said. "Because I found some treasure last night, and I wanted to go through it with you."

That being said, I opened my requip space and dumped everything on the floor. Well, everything except the keys and books. I'd go over those later.

"That's a lot of things," Laxus said, staring at the pile.

"Hahaha, treasure!" Cana jumped in and immediately started going through things. Juvia leaned closer to some of the jewelry that was there.

"What's going on?" a voice called.

We turned and saw Makarov standing by the door.

"Onee-sama brought us treasure," Juvia said, holding up a necklace with a small sapphire pendant on it, in the shape of a raindrop.

I smiled at her. "You should keep that one. It matches your eyes."

Her eyes shone as she hugged me. "Thank you Onee-sama!"

I laughed. "Alright, let's try to find one with an amethyst."

"Why an amethyst?" Cana asked.

"For you, silly," I told her. "Your eyes are purple!"

She blushed, but she joined us on our search.

"Where did you find all of this?" Makarov asked in amazement.

I smiled at him. "I told you to be on the lookout for Gate Keys. Anyway, I did a locator spell for Virgo's key yesterday, and I found this stuff with it."

"Hey, Jiji, what's _astral project_ mean?" Laxus asked.

"Where did you read that?" I asked.

He held up an oddly shaped helmet. "There were instructions on how to use this inside, and it says it's for astral projection."

"I would like to keep that," I said. It would come very handy in the future.

He handed it over to me and I requipped it.

"Oh, Cana-san, I found it for you!"

Cana and I turned to look at Juvia, who was holding up a necklace with a small amethyst pendant on the end. It was in the shape of a pendulum crystal.

"There, Cana, that's yours to keep. And, for now, I think I'll hold onto the jewelry. Especially for when the others join us."

"Others?" Cana asked.

I smiled at her. "I already told Juvia, but over the next few years, I'm sure we won't be the only kids to join Fairy Tail. So it wouldn't be fair to keep these jewels all to ourselves."

"Okay Onee-sama," Juvia said happily. "But first can we find one for you?"

I laughed at her. "Sure."

Cana started searching, and Juvia went to join her. Makarov went to look at some of the other artifacts.

"Oooooh, this one is pretty," Cana said. She held up a necklace with a large diamond pendant on it.

"It's perfect for Onee-sama!" Juvia said happily.

I shook my head. "Guys, I'm not going to wear a diamond necklace every day, even if it is beautiful."

Juvia frowned, but Cana remained stubborn. "Then at least promise that you'll keep this, and wear it to special guild occasions."

I smiled at them. "Alright."

The girls cheered.

"What about this one?" Laxus asked.

"Hmm?" I asked, looking at him.

"You're searching for a necklace that matches your eyes, right?" He held up a small chain with a moonstone pendant cut in the shape of a circle. It caught the light and shimmered.

"Wow!"

"So pretty!"

I blushed. "Yeah, thanks." I took it from his outstretched hand and put it on. Juvia and Cana put theirs on as well.

"I would like to take a longer look at some of these things, Elle; maybe have a few friends look at them."

"What friends?" I asked.

"A man named Yajima, and another named Warrod."

I nodded. "Yeah, those guys have always been in our corner. I'm fine with that. What would you like to hold on to?"

He separated a few weapons, several pieces of jewelry, and some odd, small shaped boxes.

"Alright," I said. "Just tell me what you find!"

He nodded and left to move the stuff to his office. I turned back to what was left (which was mostly jewelry). "We done?"

They all nodded.

"Alright," I said, requipping the items into my inventory. "Let's eat."

* * *

I went home a bit earlier that day, around three, so I could get a good look at the old tomes and the keys I had found. In addition to that, I wanted to see if I could start producing the elements for my Planetary Spells.

On the trail back home, I requipped out the keys.

The first one I looked at had a fox on it.

I tried to think of all the constellations I could.

 _Damn it, Elle, think._

I knew it started with a V…. Veculpa, Vapelcua, Vulepca…Vulpecula, that was it!

Vulpecula, the Little Fox. I think.

I looked at the next one. Looking closely, I was able to see a bird.

I just about groaned.

There are like…six or seven different bird constellations.

There's…Corvus the Crow, Cygnus the Swan,…um, a dove, a peacock, Apus the 'Bird of Paradise' (no clue what that even means), a toucan, a crane, an eagle…and the Phoenix. Does a phoenix count as a bird? Well, it's called a 'firebird', so I'm counting it.

Fucking _nine._ Why the fuck are there _nine_ bird constellations. Do astronomers have any imagination at all? Honestly.

I squinted at it. By process of elimination, I'm pretty sure it's the eagle.

What was it's name? Ohhhhhhhh…it started with an A…and it definitely had a q…

Aquarium.

I snorted. Yeah, sure. Aquarium the Eagle, definitely.

Oh well. Aq-something the Eagle. Pretty sure there's at least one book on Celestial Magic at home, so maybe I can find the right name in there. If not, I'm sure Layla would know.

The last one had two dogs on it.

The fact that there were _two_ dogs, made me think that it was the Hunting Dogs. Canis Ventanaci

Okay, that's definitely not right.

Oh well, I was almost home.

I glanced at the last one. I recognized the symbol, but not the metal.

But it definitely wasn't silver, that was for sure.

Looking at the symbol again, I nodded.

Oh yeah. That was definitely a unicorn.

Monoceros the Unicorn. That one I knew.

I reached the cabin and unlocked the door, going to the table and setting down the keys. Before going to the study, however, I decided to requip out the books I had also found. Maybe there was something in there I could use.

Three heavy tomes thudded onto the table, letting some dust waft into the air.

I looked at their titles.

 _Spirit Compendium_

 _Power of the Planets_

 _Celestial Spells_

I blinked.

"Holy shit!" I yelled. I felt like I found the Celestial goldmine, or something. As much as I wanted to go through these books, I was also really worried about there being something else left at the site.

I tried to breathe. If there was anything else at that site, it would've been buried deep. Next time I see Lucy, I can take her to the site and she can summon Virgo to see if there's something else there.

I wondered if there were any other sites like that one.

I tried to clear my mind, and grabbed _Spirit Compendium_.

Opening it, I looked at the Table of Contents.

 _An Introduction_

 _The Seven Platinum Keys_

 _\- A Summary_

 _\- Draco_

 _\- Hydra_

 _\- Cetus_

 _\- Phoenix_

 _\- Monoceros_

 _\- Pegasus_

 _\- Corvus_

 _The Zodiac and the 13_ _th_

 _\- A Summary_

 _\- Aries_

 _\- Taurus_

 _\- Gemini_

 _\- Cancer_

 _\- Leo_

 _\- Libra_

 _\- Virgo_

 _\- Scorpio_

 _\- Sagittarius_

 _\- Capricorn_

 _\- Aquarius_

 _\- Pisces_

 _\- Ophiuchus_

 _The Silver Keys_

 _Index_

Well, I guess that answers what metal it is. Platinum.

I wasn't surprised that the silver keys weren't listed – considering the amount, they probably all have much shorter types of summaries.

I opened it to the introduction.

… _Celestial Spirits can be summoned…doorways to another world…different personalities…_

Blah blah blah, I already know about Celestial Spirit Magic.

I flipped forward until I found the section on the Platinum Keys.

 _A Summary_

 _The Platinum Keys are the Strongest Keys that are forged. In order from Strongest to Weakest, this section will explore each of them in depth. Even the weakest of the Platinum Keys is at least on par with Leo the Lion, the Leader of the Zodiac. It takes much energy to summon them, so much so that the top five have never been summoned, and the sixth has only been summoned once. The weakest of these keys, Corvus, has been called much more, but it still takes almost twice the amount of magic for summoning a Zodiac._

I looked up from my readings to glance at the keys. The section said it would explore them each in depth from strongest to weakest, and looking at the table of contents, it is easy to rank them in that order; Draco, Hydra, Cetus, Phoenix, Monoceros, Pegasus, and Corvus.

The Platinum Key I had belonged to Monoceros. This book says that the strongest five have never been summoned, and Monoceros, while the weakest of those five, still fit that category.

That means that if Lucy can summon Monoceros, she will be his first summoner!

Flipping forward to Monoceros's section, I skimmed through it so I could find the power requirement to summon him.

My jaw nearly dropped. It seemed upon par to four Zodiacs at once, and five to fully utilize his power.

Holy shit.

Well, at least it's the unicorn. Lucy is still a young girl, and she would love to play with a unicorn (how many girls get a pet unicorn?). If I tell her about this key, she'll build up strength so she can summon him and play with him.

I looked at the three silver keys, then flipped forward to the silver section. Vulpecula would be in the end, since it was in alphabetical order. And if I was right about the eagle, it would be right near the beginning…there.

 _Aquila the Eagle. Known for lightning magic._

Cool.

Reading the mythology behind it, the book said that Aquila was Zeus's messenger before she became a spirit.

That explains the lightning.

I looked ahead to the Cs.

Oh, there it is.

 _Canes Venatici. The Hunting Dogs._

So that's how you spell it.

I read on _. Known for tracking magic._

 _What a surprise_ , I thought sarcastically. I flipped ahead for the Vs.

 _Vulpecula the Little Fox…magic unknown._

Huh.

I shrugged and closed the book. I'm sure Lucy would appreciate a copy of this, so in my free time I'd make one.

Also, that way I'd actually be able to read it through.

I opened the book of Celestial Spells.

Opening it to the index, I quickly found _Urano Metria_ (the only spell I knew) and flipped through until I found that page, hoping to find others like it.

I read a bit of it and then sat back, surprised.

…What the hell did I just read?

I looked at it again. Still there.

I rubbed my eyes. Sure enough, looking back at the book, it read something that somewhat scared me.

… _Urano Metria is considered the weakest of the offensive Celestial Battle Spells_ …

I flipped until I found the list of 'Celestial Battle Spells', from Weakest to Strongest

 _Offensive Celestial Battle Spells, From Weakest to Strongest_

 _Urano Metria_

 _Urano Metria Tabulae Rudolphinae_

 _Coelum_ _Stellatum Christianum_

 _Harmonia Macrocosmica_

 _Firmamentum Sobiescanum sive Uranometria_

 _Uranometria Nova*_

I looked at those spells.

Why weren't any in English?

I sighed. "Fuck it," and flipped to the last one (considered the strongest), wondering why it was starred.

 _Uranometria Nova is the only known Telescopal Celestial Spell. At full power, it is able to pinpoint any distance and cause an explosion of magical power. This has only been cast successfully once, and was the inspiration for the Magic Council's Etherion Canon, which, despite their tries, has only been able to replicate around half of the magical power at most._

…what.

What.

WHY THE FUCK DOES A SPELL LIKE THAT EXIST? HOW DOES IT EVEN EXIST? HOW WOULD THAT EVEN FUCKING WORK?

A sniper spell that had the power of two Etherion blasts and maybe even a Jupiter Canon thrown in?

I quickly continued reading, wondering how on earth that was even possible. No human body could hold that much magical power, it would be insane!

 _The equivalent of casting this spell is about equal to summoning all of the Zodiac at once. However, the caster is not the_ exact _person casting the spell. They are more of sending a signal to the Spirit King and the Celestial Realm, and summoning the power of the stars together. The caster_ does not _use their magic energy to produce the blast, merely summon it and point it at a certain destination. This is the full power of the stars, and, as such, is the most destructive Celestial Spell to exist, and should only be used in times of extreme emergencies. While he is unlikely to do so if the caster sends out all the magical power needed (as that usually means that the situation is an emergency enough) the Spirit King can stop the gathered power from going off, and break off the spell. However, this will only happen if it is summoned for something trivial, and would be complete overkill._

I stared at the book in awe. Could this be an alternative for Lucy? Would she be able to do this instead of sacrificing Aquarius's key?

My spirits fell as I looked at the spell again. No, it wouldn't, because we would all be caught in the blast if she was to do something like that.

I gritted my teeth. I _would_ find an alternative. One way or another, I would find a way to stop the pain and suffering caused by Tartaros. Lucy _won't_ have to sacrifice Aquarius, Erza _won't_ be tortured, Gray _won't_ lose his father, and Natsu and the other dragon slayers _won't_ lose their parents.

If there wasn't a spell that could do what I was asking….well…then I guess I'd just have to make one.

* * *

 ** _Uranometria_ is the name of the first visual star atlas, and the rest of the spells are all star atlases as well. In the order they are in (weakest to strongest) they are also in order of creation. Many atlases were considered updated versions of the previous ones ( _Uranometria 2.0_ ), which is why they're considered stronger. The last one is a telescopal star atlas, which is why I made it a snipper spell.**

 **Considering the amount of energy and matter that make up stars, I do not think it is a stretch to have a spell like this. On the contrary, I feel like this spell is severely underestimating the power of the stars.**

 **As we all know, Lucy has nowhere near the power requirements for this. Sometime in the future, she may, but it will be far off, and even then, I'm not sure she'll end up casting it. If she was too try it anytime soon, however, she'd surely die in attempt.**

 **As for the Platinum Keys, I am not the first to do a second/stronger set of keys. I've seen sets of four or ten or eight or twelve and they've been platinum or titanium or diamond.**

 **I chose Platinum because when it comes to musical records, Platinum is considered higher than Gold.**

 **I refuse to believe the Zodiacs are the strongest spirits.**

 **Sorry, Loke. I love ya, but you're not stronger than a dragon. Get over it.**


	8. Lucy, Part One

**Chapter Eight - Lucy, Part One**

I waited outside of the Heartfilia Konzern impatiently, waiting for Layla to come let me in.

It was time for me to finally meet little Lucy, and see how much she'd been able to practice.

Jude's business trip got extended, so I made plans with Layla to drop by on Lucy's birthday, July 1st.

It's odd, to think that I've been in this world for two months.

Especially since it feels like longer.

After I had read through all the celestial spells (and calmed down), I read the book I found on Planetary magic.

Part of it said what I already had guess; in order to utilize the magic, you had to surround yourself in the environment for the element, otherwise you'd never be able to produce it on your own.

That being said, it was easy for me to plan certain things. I knew when I would train with Ice (Uranus), and I was planning on taking a vacation on Tenrou at some point for the powers of Light (Venus), Fire (Mars), and Water (Neptune).

That being said, the only one I was worried about was Lightning and Wind, or Jupiter and Saturn. I was able to do Earth and Darkness (Pluto) in my own home/backyard/the forest/Magnolia, but I wasn't quite sure where I would be able to train my Lightning or Wind Magic. I was hoping that I might be able to practice lightning with Laxus, but I wasn't sure if that would work.

Once I had figured that out, I decided to start with Earth. After all, it was my own personal planet, and it was closer to home, in more than a few ways. One being that I lived in a forest.

By the end of the week, I could utilize the element. It was easy to take control or make vines and roots, and use that to hold things (or in the future, monsters) down. That spell, called _Arms of the Earth_ , was the first one of the Planetary spells I was able to cast. Honestly, once I started learning it almost became effortless; as if the spell was an extension of myself. The only problem was the strength of the spell – because of my current magical level, it was still pretty weak.

After I got the first spell down, they all came to me easily…except for the last two.

 _Especially_ the last one.

I started practicing farther away from my cottage so I wouldn't break it. After that spell, I started practicing _Earth's Green Fist_ , which basically nails someone with a giant fist made of earth, and _Earth Rock Shield_ , which raises the ground to form a shield. There was also _Melting Earth_ which turns the ground into quicksand. That one was the hardest, because the others were just manipulating Earth. This one, I need to liquidize the earth, and changing its form is the hardest part of it. Another was _Army of Earth_ which raises a bunch of golem soldiers.

I was only able to make one.

And it was about the same size as me.

The book says they're supposed to be over seven feet tall.

But again, because of my magical level, I was mostly just happy I was able to pull the spell off at all. Over time, they would all become more powerful.

And then there was _that_ one.

The hardest.

The book actually acknowledged that it was the hardest, and there was also a sticky note inside it (which was odd) that read _T_ _he hardest spells for each of these are probably comparable to a Dragon Slayer_ _Secret Art. Good luck!_

Well, at least I had a warning.

The last spell was called _Crack of the Earth_.

If you haven't guessed, it makes a _fucking earthquake_.

Man, my magic is awesome.

But it was hard. It was really hard, and I was only able to get the ground to shake a little. No cracks or anything. I wasn't even able to make a tree fall.

"Elle? You can come in now," Layla said, opening the door.

I snapped out of my thoughts and smiled at her. "Thank you."

I pushed my Earth magic to the back of my mind. To be honest, despite my difficulties, I was still really proud of myself. If I kept practicing and training, I'd get better, and I was starting to realize that if I did this right, I could _easily_ become an S Class Mage.

"Lucy, I'd like you to meet a friend of mine. This is Elle," Layla said to Lucy, who was turning five.

"Hello Lucy," I said, smiling at her.

"She's a kid!" Lucy said in surprise.

I laughed. "Mmmhmmm. I'm nine years old. And how old are you?"

Lucy beamed. "I'm turning five today!"

"Congratulations!" I told her, smiling. "I heard you're going to become a mage!"

"I already am!" she said. "I'm a Celestial Spirit Mage!"

"Cool!" I said. "Who can you summon?"

Her eyes lit up. "Here, I'll show you!" She held up a key I recognized. "Open, Gate of the Maiden! Virgo!"

The familiar chime sounded, and Virgo appeared, bowing. "Punishment, Hime-sama?"

Lucy giggled. "Virgo is silly! But she calls me Princess!" She hugged Virgo. "Stay with us Virgo! It's my birthday! And I want you to spend it with me. So I'm going to keep you here for the party for as long as I can!"

Virgo bowed. "As you wish, Hime-sama. However, if you'll excuse me, I believe I must have a word with your new friend."

She looked at me and I nodded and smiled. "I'm cool with it. My name is Elle."

"Okay!" Lucy said.

I followed Virgo over into another room, so we could have a private conversation.

She looked at me before she spoke. "You're the one. You were not supposed to be here, originally."

I nodded. "Yes. How did you know?"

"The Celestial Spirit Realm guards time, as I'm sure you might have guessed. That is why things like the Eclipse Gate require Celestial Power."

I wasn't surprised. The time difference between the Spirit World and Earthland, the Eclipse Gate, hell, even when Lucy was trapped in the clock! She had to speed up time for the sleeping mages.

"We felt a disturbance, and with it, we saw the future."

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Yes. All of us spirits saw it. So we thank you. Thank you for giving us another chance…and for giving us more time with our princess." Her voice was the same as ever, but she was crying.

"I found some keys, and celestial books," I told her. "I'm going to teach Lucy the spells when she's older. I wanted to know if there was any other…sites…full of celestial information."

She nodded. "There are several. Sagittarius, Pisces, and Gemini are all at their own sites. In the other timeline their sites were found and the keys were dismissed while everyone else went for the other treasure."

"Do you happen to have a time frame?" I asked her.

She nodded. "None of those sites will be disturbed any time in the next five years, so don't worry too much about it. However, I suggest you bring a companion with you, especially when you go to Galuna Island."

I nodded. "What about the Platinum Keys?"

Virgo shook her head. "No one knows where they are, and their spirits remain dormant in the spirit world. I'm afraid I cannot help you there."

I smiled at her and requipped the keys. "I found these buried at the same site I found you at. I was hoping that later we could go back and you could dig, to see if there's anything I missed."

She looked at the keys. "Vulpecula, Aquila, Asterion and Chara, and…" Her eyes widened as she eyed the last key. "Is this…"

I nodded. "As far as I can tell, yeah. This is Monoceros's key. One of the Platinum Keys. I was hoping that the fact that he's a unicorn will help motivate Lucy to get stronger, so she can summon him and play with him."

"He would like that," Virgo said. "I imagine he's lonely. These keys (and even some of the others), go into a dormant type state when they don't have a contract. They can still observe the world, and with the ruckus caused by your appearance, I highly doubt they slept through it."

"Have you ever met them?" I asked her.

"I met them all once, and I met Pegasus a handful of times. I saw Corvus a bit more than that, but he's a bit of a loner."

I nodded, and we turned at a knock at the door. "Are you done?" Lucy's tiny voice asked. "I wanna play!"

I opened the door. "We're just about done, sweetie, but I would like to borrow Virgo. Do you think you can keep her gate open, even though we'll be going a bit far away?"

"Maybe…" Lucy said.

I smiled at her. "Don't worry, I'm sure you can do it. And besides, think of it as a game. You win if you can keep her gate open until we get back."

"What do I win?" Lucy asked. "And how long will you be?"

Awww, she's a smart cookie.

"It's a surprise! We should be no longer than half an hour. Do you think you can do that?" I asked.

"Mmmmhmm," she said.

"Alright," I said, standing up and smiling. "We'll see you in half an hour."

Then I grabbed Virgo and teleported to the site.

I didn't realize how strong my connection to Earth was until we appeared on the site. Not only could I feel several keys emanating energy from underground, but I could also feel what the ground considered a foreign entity.

"There are definitely more keys around here, but I'm afraid that I can't pinpoint the exact location."

"That's fine," I said. "Since I've started with Earth, I've got enough of a connection. I can tell you where they are. Can you dig?"

She nodded.

"Do you want to start with the deepest first, or the ones closer to the surface?" I asked.

"Deepest, in case Princess's energy runs out," Virgo said.

I nodded and closed my eyes, sending a wave of magical energy as deep as I could, so I wouldn't miss anything.

It was a good thing I did, because I would have missed one if I didn't.

I walked over to a spot and marked an X with my feet. "About thirty feet down."

"Thirty feet?" Virgo asked, surprised.

"Yeah," I nodded. "It's a lot deeper than the others. After this one, the next one is about twelve feet down."

"Anything lower than this one?" she asked.

I shook my head. "I just barely reached it, but I managed to get my magic to the mantle. There's nothing else here."

She nodded and moved onto the spot, before spinning and disappearing underground.

About a minute later, she jumped out of the hole, handing me the key.

I walked her over to the next spot. "As I said before, this one is about twelve feet down."

She nodded and started spinning, and I was confused by the direction of the dirt until I realized that she was using it to fill the other hole she made.

Well, at least I didn't need to worry about falling down a thirty foot hole. Just, you know, an eighteen foot.

I glanced at the key in my hand, and recognized the symbol, even if it was a bird.

Corvus, the crow.

I wonder why his key was so low.

More than that, I wonder why two Platinum keys were so close to one another. For some reason, I thought that they would be far apart.

Virgo popped out of the ground and handed me another key.

I led her over to another spot, marking it. "About five feet."

She started spinning, and I looked at the key. A snake.

Serpens, the Serpent.

I requipped that away, deciding to give it to Lucy when she was older. Right now, I didn't want to hurt her or the spirit's feelings, and I don't think she'd appreciate a snake.

Well, I could always try to subtly find out.

 _Do you like snakes?_

Eh, that was subtle enough. I could throw in a few more animals to throw her off track.

Virgo popped up and handed me the key.

"That was the last one," I said, taking the key. Scutum, the shield. That should come in handy.

"Now, let's go back to the party," I said, taking Virgo and teleporting back to the Konzern.


	9. Lucy, Part Two

**You won't always get two chapters, I just got a lot of reviews.**

* * *

 **Chapter Nine - Lucy, Part Two**

When we appeared, Lucy tackled me. "I didn't know you were a mage, Ellie-nee!"

I looked at her. "Ellie-nee?"

She smiled. "Yeah. Ellie and Lucy!"

I smiled at her. "I like it. Oh, and since you kept Virgo out extra-long, you get an extra present!"

"Really?" she squealed, extremely excited.

I nodded. "Mmmhmmm. But you should probably send Virgo back now. She's probably tired, and you should save your energy."

"Why should I save my energy?" Lucy asked.

I smiled at her and held up Scutum's Key. I had requipped Corvus's key away with Serpens's, for now. "Because, silly, you're going to need that energy if you want to make contracts with your presents!"

She lit up, like the sun. "Really! Oh, thank you Ellie-nee!" Lucy spun around and hugged Virgo. "Thank you for the help Virgo."

She nodded. "Goodnight Hime-sama. Happy Birthday."

Lucy smiled up at her spirit. "Gate of the Maiden, close!"

Virgo vanished in a flash of light, and Lucy dragged me (and Layla, who was giggling behind me) towards the couch so we could sit.

"Thank you for the gift Ellie-nee!" Lucy said excitedly.

I laughed. "I actually have some more for you. You see, this one is your bonus, but these two-" I requipped Vulpecula and Canes Venatici into my hands, "were your regular birthday presents."

I had decided that I would give her Aquila for Christmas.

"Wow!" Lucy said, starry eyed.

I handed the keys to her.

"Now, Lucy, listen," I said seriously.

She must've been able to tell that this was different by my tone, because she looked up at me with a serious look in her eyes.

"Lucy, you might not believe me when I say this, but I know a little bit of the future."

Her jaw dropped.

"And I also know that you are going to be considered the most powerful Celestial Spirit Mage alive," –even though there weren't many left- "and possibly ever, comparable only to your great great great ancestor, Anna Heartfilia. That being said, I want to know how many Zodiacs you're contracted to."

"Four," Lucy said quietly. "Mama is trying to get Capricorn too but she can't seem to contact his wizard."

"Lucy," I said. "Since I know the future, I'm going to try to find keys for you."

Her face brightened.

"But-," I said. "But, I want you to get strong. You've got some scary things coming your way, and I know that you'll be able to handle it; after all, you'll have your spirits and your friends. But more than that, I know that you're strong enough to take care of it. But I want you to be stronger. So I'll give you the keys on certain conditions, alright?"

She nodded, fiercely paying attention.

"I will give you Silver Keys on your birthday and on Christmas," I said. "And I'll continue to do so. But, you will not receive your next Zodiac key until you can open all of your Zodiacs at one time."

Lucy gasped. Her lip waivered a little bit. "But…I can't open four gates at once…"

I hugged her. "No, maybe you can't. Not right now, at least, but I know that you will! You're strong enough to do it, and I know that. However, there's another reason why I'm doing this."

She leaned back to look up at me. "What's that?"

"You know how some gates are harder to open than others?" I asked her.

She nodded.

"Have you ever heard of the Seven Platinum Keys?" I asked her.

Layla let out a gasp, but Lucy shook her head.

"Well, the Seven Platinum Keys are really strong, and because of that, really hard to summon. Even the weakest of the seven is considered to be above or on par with the leader of the Zodiacs, Leo. In addition to that, the more powerful they get, the harder it is too open. So much so that the sixth has only been summoned once, and the top five have _never been summoned._ Ever."

"And…you want me to get strong enough to summon these?" Lucy asked.

"Yes," I said. "For two reasons. One) it will help you protect your other friends, and Two) it will give you new friends."

She nodded. "So I have to get stronger to summon them."

I smiled. "Yep. Now I have some questions for you. What are your favorite magical creatures?"

Lucy beamed. "Well, I kinda like dragons, but if I'm a princess then the dragon is supposed to be my enemy."

I laughed. "That's stupid. One day, you'll find your dragon, and you guys will be best friends, okay?"

She smiled. "Okay!"

"What else?" I asked.

"Hmm…I like unicorns…and mermaids…"

I nodded. "And what about regular animals? Do you like dogs, cats? Snakes, frogs? Horses, wolves? Bunnies?"

"I like dogs the most!" Lucy said. "But I like cats. Horses are cool, and bunnies are cute. I've never really thought of the rest."

I decided I should still hold off with giving her Serpens.

"Okay," I said, thinking. "You said you like unicorns, dragons, and mermaids, right?"

She nodded.

"Well, you already have Aquarius," I told her. "Did you know there is a constellation for a unicorn and a dragon, too?"

"Really?" she asked, her eyes wide.

I nodded. "Yep. Draco the dragon and Monoceros the unicorn. Draco, however, is considered the strongest key, at the top of the Platinum Seven, so it will be awhile before you can summon him. Monoceros is the fifth strongest, and has still never been summoned, but you could probably pull it off in a year if you try very hard."

"I could summon a unicorn?" Lucy squealed. "Will you find it for me Ellie-nee?"

"No," I said.

Her face fell.

"I already found it."

Layla gasped again. Lucy froze. "What?"

"The reason I'm telling you all this is because I already found Monoceros's key. It was with the others. It's never been summoned before, and it's suspected that you need to be able to hold open five Zodiac gates at once to summon him. That's why I'm telling you this, and trying to get you strong."

I requipped the key into my hand and held it out to her. "Don't summon him yet, because it's dangerous, and because of that, I'm going to take him back with me so you aren't tempted. But for now, you can hold it, and every time I visit, you can summon as much spirits as possible to see if you're strong enough to summon him and make a contract."

Layla came over to see the key Lucy was holding. "A Platinum Key. Wow. I thought that they were only a myth."

I shook my head. "Oh, they're real alright, and I'm gonna find the others."

Lucy sent a pulse of magic through the key, searching for the presence on the other side. Reaching it, she connected and saw the gate, but didn't open the door.

She knocked on it. "Hello Monoceros. I'm glad to meet you. My name is Lucy Heartfilia, and someday I'd like to make a contract with you. I know that right now I'm not strong enough, but I'm going to train as hard as I can so I can open this door one day. You don't have to be lonely anymore."

Layla and I looked at Lucy, whose eyes were closed and who's magic was concentrated on the spirit's gate so they could communicate. "You should be proud," I told her.

"I am," she said, slightly teary eyed.

"Do you have any employed mages?" I asked her.

She nodded.

"You should have them train with Lucy."

"Train?" she asked, somewhat worried.

"You know as well as I do that opening the gate is merely half the battle. Lucy needs to get used to supporting their attacks – it's her magic they're using."

"I still can't believe you found a Platinum Key," she whispered to me.

"I actually found two," I admitted. "But the other one was Corvus. Even though he's the weakest, I don't want to give him to Lucy until she's able to open at least two gates. Other than that, I think that he can be kinda scary, so I want to wait for her to get older. It's the same reason why I didn't give her the Serpens Key I found."

"I was wondering about all of those questions," she murmured. "Serpens is a common gate, though, so the farther she goes in her training, the more she'll know about it. Which means she'll probably accept it, realizing that she'd end up with it sooner or later."

"Momma, I felt him!" Lucy cried. She was smiling brightly as she tackled me. "Thank you, Ellie-nee! I promise I'll work super hard, okay? Next time you see me, I'll be able to open two gates, at least!"

I hugged her back. "Alright, sweetie. Anyway, it's late, and you're probably tired. You can make your new contracts in the morning, and I should probably get going, too."

She yawned, just as I spoke. "Alright, Ellie-nee! Can you visit more?"

I smiled at her. "I'll see what I can do, alright. Happy Birthday. Goodnight."

She handed me back Monoceros's key and picked up her silver ones from the table. "Goodnight."

I waved at them and then phased home.


	10. Levy, Part One

**Thank you to all of the lovelies who commented. I promise we'll end up seeing all the main characters, but for some of them, it will take a while for them to appear.**

 **Also, I named the chapters with story arcs.**

* * *

 **Chapter Ten - Levy, Part One**

I yawned as I entered the guild. Honestly, I was really tired. I had finally managed to get results with the last Earth spell; _Crack of the Earth._

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get much of a result.

I managed to get a tiny crack, but that was about it. The spell is supposed to _split the earth open_ , and all I managed to do was make a tiny crack.

So I practiced. I practiced, and practiced and _practiced._

And I managed to make the crack bigger. But the ground still didn't _split_. The most I could get was somewhat of a crack and some shaking. I managed to make a tree fall.

Honestly, I was so pissed off.

But I knew it wouldn't come easy. I was learning _magic_ , for fucks sake, it's not going to all come in a day, and besides, I'm only nine.

That being said, the fact that I can pull off part of all the Earth spells is amazing, even if I can't really _complete_ them all yet.

I've also gotten to the point of summoning two seven feet tall golems for _Army of the Earth_ , but right after that happened I had collapsed on the ground and was barely able to sustain the golems.

I sighed again. Maybe I just had to meditate more.

I pushed open the door to the training room to find Laxus talking to Cana about her cards while Juvia meditated."-no, I _do_ think that _Summon Lightning_ is a great attack, but you need a bigger area attack."

"What do you mean?" Cana asked.

"I mean…say you end up fighting a giant monster, like a Vulcan or something! I don't think _Summon Lightning_ would be able to take it down, just weaken it."

"What do you suggest, then?" Cana asked stubbornly.

Laxus hesitated, obviously not coming up with an alternative.

"Multiple directions," I said.

They turned to look at me, and Juvia opened her eyes. "Onee-sama!"

I smiled at her. "Good morning, Juvia. Concentrate on your meditation."

She beamed and closed her eyes.

"What do you mean, Elle-nee-chan?" Cana asked.

I stopped to think. "Laxus, can you get up and come here?"

He complied and stood next to me.

"Alright. I…" I paused and turned to Juvia. "Actually, Juvia, we could use your help, and it would also help with your control."

She opened her eyes and beamed.

I turned to Cana. "Do you have any blank cards I could use for demonstration?"

She handed me ten. "Do you need more?"

I shook my head. "Nah, this should be good, especially for now." I turned to Juvia. "Can you coat all of these with your water?"

She nodded and held all of them in her hands, letting her water body run over them.

"Okay, now we're going to test your mental control," I told her. I pointed to the spot in the air a bit to the right and above of Laxus. "Can you hover one of the cards here?"

Juvia nodded, determined, understanding now why she had me coat the cards. Using her mental control, she moved the card (surrounded in a layer of water) to the spot I was pointing.

"Can you hold that one?" I asked. "And also add another one?"

She nodded.

I pointed to a spot opposite the first one, a bit to the left and above of Laxus. "Right here, then."

She moved another card, slower this time, to the spot I was pointing.

"Do you think you can do two more?" I asked.

Juvia nodded. I noticed a bead of sweat on her face.

I pointed to a spot a bit in front and above of Laxus, and a spot a bit behind and above of Laxus.

Slowly, two more cards came floating to those spots.

"Alright, just hold those as long as possible for now," I told Juvia.

I turned to Cana. "If you can shoot multiple cards into an area like this, than you can strike the target from all directions. Using multiple _Summon Lightning_ cards should help increase the power, too, and you can always move the cards farther apart for a bigger target. If you add more and more cards, like a few more down here" – I gestured to each of the corners around Laxus's legs "and above here," I pointed above Laxus's head, "you can get an even bigger reaction."

"Will I ever need something that big?" Cana asked.

I shrugged. "What if you have to fight a dragon?"

Cana didn't notice, but Laxus paled.

I turned to Juvia. "I don't need you to keep holding them anymore, Juvia."

Her face was beaded with sweat. "No, if it's okay with Cana-san, Juvia would like to continue this. It is making Juvia stronger than meditation, and Juvia likes this exercise."

"Sure," Cana said, before heading over to some paper and writing down plans and blueprints for her new spell. I could see the words _Summon Lightning; Cage_ and _Summon Lightning; Aerial Attack_ , written on top of the paper.

I felt a hand on my arm, and I turned to look at Laxus, who had a hold on my hand and was pulling me over to the corner.

"A dragon?" he whispered. "Cana will have to fight a _dragon_? _This_ Cana?"

I followed his look, to where little Cana was writing on her paper. She was almost six years old, and I'll admit, it was a bit frightening to consider a small five year old fighting a dragon.

"There will come a time when we will all have to fight dragons," I said. "Not until most of us are adults, luckily, but that's another reason I'm pushing everyone so hard. So we're as strong as possible."

Laxus had a look of fear on his face before it was replaced with determination. "Alright. Then I'll get as strong as possible. Strong enough to beat Jiji!"

I smiled at him and hugged him. "Thank you, Laxus."

He nodded. "If you say we'll have to fight a dragon, then that's what I'll do. And I'll beat that dragon."

He deflated a bit. "Now if only there were more dragon slayers."

I giggled. "Give it a few years."

His eyes widened. "Seriously?"

I smiled. "Seriously."

Cana finished writing, ran over to us, and hugged us. "Thank you for the help, Elle-nee-chan, Laxus-nii-chan!"

Laxus blushed and looked away. "D-don't call me Nii-chan."

I stared at him. He was fucking eleven. Why the hell was he acting like a tsundere?

I smirked and hugged Cana back. "Don't listen to your ' _Laxus-nii-chan'_. He's happy to help, he's just embarrassed. After all, he's a badass boy, he can't be seen going around, helping little girls."

"E-Elle!" Laxus yelled.

I cackled as I let go of Cana and ran off into the guild, towards Enno. When she wasn't dancing, she was acting as a barmaid.

"Hey, Ellie-girl, what'cha need?" she smiled at me.

I sighed. Despite _repeatedly_ asking them not too, most of the older generation (ei: Macao, Wakaba, and Enno) have decided to call me _Ellie_ , rather than Elle, because, as Enno put it, _'it's just so adorable!_ '.

Honestly.

I just really hope they grow out of it when I get older. In like, a year.

Though that was probably asking too much.

"You got any cookies?" I asked her seriously.

Enno giggled as she tried to hide the cookies she was passing me, though guessing from the guffawing behind me, we weren't doing a good enough job of being sneaky.

I turned and glared at Macao, before grabbing the cookies and sticking my tongue out at him. Okay, honestly, I act a lot more childishly around most of the guild adults, but it was kinda fun. I never got to do any of this the first time around.

"Hey, did you hear?" Wakaba asked Macao. He took his attention off of me and I hid under a table to eavesdrop on their conversations.

I'm a kid, it's not like I'm gonna get in trouble.

"Hear what?" Macao asked.

"About the McGardens," Wakaba said.

McGarden? That was Levy's last name.

"The family that owns the great magic shop over in Onibas?" Macao asked.

"Yeah, that's the one. Some thieves raided their shop and killed the couple. They took the daughter, too, for ransom, and the girl's grandmother, the only one left of her family, had a heart attack when she heard. Now she's at the hospital in critical condition or something and the police are clueless about what to do about the girl. I doubt the thieves do, either."

"Fuck," Macao muttered.

I didn't listen anymore. I was a girl on a mission.

I ran back through the training room doors and stopped to look at everyone. Laxus and Cana looked up, and Juvia broke her concentration.

"Onee-sama!" she complained.

"Sorry, Juvia," I said, panting. "But I've got our first mission."

They all looked at me.

"Are you sure we're ready for it?" Cana asked.

I nodded. "I'm positive, actually. We can easily do this."

"What's the mission?" Laxus asked.

I smiled. "We're gonna rescue Levy McGarden."


	11. Levy, Part Two

**Chapter Eleven - Levy, Part Two**

"Who's Levy McGarden?" Laxus asked blankly.

I rolled my eyes. "Shut up and get your shit, we're leaving. Don't worry, you get to fight bandits."

Laxus brightened a bit. Not that I was surprised, he was probably still pissed at Ivan. Honestly, I wasn't expecting him to go so far when he was kicked out. He actually tried to kill Cana and Juvia, after all.

Or he was gonna, until Makarov stopped him.

Juvia grabbed my hand, and Cana grabbed an extra pile of cards from the training room walls. Laxus put his shoes on.

"Onee-sama," Juvia asked. "Why do you curse so much?"

I sighed. "It's a bit of a long story, but you guys would pick it up soon anyway, living in this guild. It's not like I'm the worst one in this place."

The three of them sweatdropped. "Actually, you kinda are," Laxus admitted.

I glared at him. "Get your ass moving, we need to hurry; we're sneaking out the back."

"Do we need to get our asses moving, too?" Cana asked.

"No sweetie," I told her. "You need to get your _butts_ moving, there's a difference."

Juvia looked up. "There is?"

I nodded. "Yep."

"No, there isn't," Laxus said, holding the door open as the rest of us rushed out. Juvia was still holding my hand.

"What happened to listening to what I say?" I asked him, referencing the dragon.

"That's different," he said. "I'm not listening to you about this. There's not a difference between butts and asses."

"Yes, there is!" I insisted. "'Ass' is also another name for a donkey."

"Really?" Juvia asked.

I nodded at her. "Really."

Laxus started muttering to himself.

"Guys, come on," Cana yelled. "We don't know when the trains leave."

"Good point," I said, speeding up.

We ran into the station and I ran to the ticket booth. "Four tickets to Onibas, please."

The woman gave me a curious expression, but I held her stare, looking extremely confident.

The woman handed me the tickets and I gave her the Jewel it cost, before looking at the time and grabbing Juvia's hand again. "Come on!" I yelled, requipping the tickets so I didn't lose them. "The train leaves in two minutes!"

We all picked up the pace and ran to the right train. Quickly, we all jumped aboard, and settled in a private compartment.

"You have the tickets?" Laxus asked.

I nodded, requipping them into my hand. "Yep."

" _All Aboard! Train to Onibas station is leaving!"_

Slowly, the train started to move, and then it began to pick up speed. A man working for the train came by and I handed him our tickets.

"So now what?" Cana asked when they were gone.

"Well, now we plan," I said. "It's…what, a twenty minute ride to Onibas, right?"

They all nodded.

"Alright, so we go there. These bandits kidnapped a kid named Levy McGarden after breaking into her home. We're going to rescue her and kick those bandits' asses!"

"Okay," Juvia and Cana nodded.

"You need more of a plan than that," Laxus said.

I rolled my eyes. "I was getting there. Anyway, if we go for a surprise attack, it shouldn't be too hard. If we quickly switch off; one attack after another, it should be enough to get them. Or at least, the non-mages."

"You think there will be mages?" Laxus asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, Levy McGarden's parents owned a _magic_ shop. That's why I'm calling them _bandits_ , not kidnappers. Though, I suppose murderers might fit, too, because they killed her parents…"

Cana and Juvia gasped, and they started to look worried.

"Calm down, you too," I told them. "First of all, you guys are the extra surprise. While you guys can definitely fight, I want you guys to find Levy and sneak her out. One of you untie her and the other keep guard."

"How do you know she's tied up?" Laxus asked.

I stared at him. "You just like playing Devil's Advocate, don't you? And any set of bandits who are stupid enough to leave their captives untied shouldn't even be a worry in the first place."

Cana and Juvia giggled.

"No, but seriously." I turned to the two of them. "Laxus and I will take on the main fighting. If we need help or backup, trust me, it'll be obvious."

"Can you even fight?" Laxus asked.

"Hmm?" I asked him.

"Well, he kinda has a point," Cana admitted. "I've only ever seen you use teleportation magic and requip magic, and those generally aren't offensive magics. I know you can do location magic too, but that isn't much more of a help."

I shook my head. "No, those aren't my main magics. Those are just some extra magics I learned because I thought that they'd be useful. I'm not very good with those, I'm much more skilled in my main magic."

"What is it?" Juvia asked eagerly.

I smiled and ruffled her hair a bit. "How about we call it Earth Magic for now, okay?"

She nodded, happy. "Juvia is happy Onee-sama uses an element, just like her!"

I chuckled a bit. _Soon I'll be using the_ same _element as you, Juvia._

"Anything else we should know?" Cana asked.

I stopped and thought. "If you notice any gate keys hidden by the bandits, grab them for me, will you?"

Juvia and Cana nodded.

"I was wondering why Jiji made that announcement," Laxus said. "You asked him too?"

I nodded. Which reminded me, I needed to make a list of the gate keys that Lucy (and I) had, so I knew which ones to tell people not to get. No need for duplicates.

The train slowed down.

"Looks like we're here," Laxus said, getting off the seat as the train pulled to a stop.

"Hey, Elle-nee-chan," Cana asked.

"Hmm?" I asked, as Juvia took my hand.

"Do you know where Levy McGarden is?"

"Currently, no," I said as we left the train. "I can do a locator spell, you know that. But I think yours would be more precise."

"I don't know her, though," Cana said as she followed us.

"It's fine, I've got that covered," I said. We found a place to sit in the park and Cana pulled out her fortune telling cards and began laying them on the ground. She clasped her right arm in mine, and began to concentrate.

After a few moments, we all felt the magic rise in the air, before it died down again. Cana opened her eyes. "I've got it!" she said, smiling.

She took off, and we all followed her.

Cana left the park, and made her way towards the woods, all of us behind her. After a while, she began to slow down, tired, and we all came to a stop.

"Let's all have a snack," I said, pulling out Enno's cookies and some canteens filled with water.

"Good idea," Cana said. "We should rest a bit."

We sat there and ate her cookies quietly.

"Are…are you sure about this?" Cana asked. "I'm…"

I laid a hand on her arm. "It's okay to be scared, Cana. We're not going to make fun of you. Look, I know we'll all be okay in the end, but that doesn't mean we won't get hurt. We could end up in a lot of pain for a bit, so if you want to step back out, that's okay."

"Well…" Cana said. "I'm not exactly scared of the mission, per se…more of what Master is going to do to us when we get back."

Laxus paled.

Juvia looked up from her cookie. "What's wrong?"

"Don't worry about it," I told them. "He'll yell at us a bit, and he may act a bit disappointed, but I can also tell you that he'll definitely brag about us at his next guild master's meeting."

Laxus brightened. "She's right. He'll probably go something like, 'My brats are so brave, leaving town and saving a little girl! They're so strong!" and then he'll probably get in a fight."

"Does that actually happen at guild meetings, or do you just imagine it does?" I asked him.

He started to blush a bit. "Sh-shut up, Elle."

I laughed.

Cana and Juvia smiled and finished their cookies. Everyone handed me their canteens, and I requipped them into my storage.

"Let's go," I said.

We continued trekking through the forest, until Laxus held up a hand. "We're close," he whispered. "I can hear them."

We peeked through the leaves and found a clearing with a small building.

Juvia looked at him in awe. "You have good hearing Laxus-san."

"It's 'cause he's a dragon slayer," I said quietly. I turned to him. "Speaking of, do you know any dragon slayer attacks?"

He shook his head. "No."

I smiled at him. "Well, what better place to learn than on the battlefield?"

"Literally anywhere else," he said.

I continued, ignoring him. "The first two attacks you need to know, at least for now, is _Lightning Dragon Roar,_ and _Lightning Dragon Iron Fist_. For the first one, you need to gather your energy and magic in your mouth, and then roar. Simple. Second one, you need to infuse your fist with your magical energy, and then sock somebody with it. Got it?"

He still looked uncertain. "…okay…"

I turned to Cana and Juvia. "Alright, girls, you need to sneak around and find Levy, alright?"

They nodded.

"Let's split. Everyone…take care of your nakama. You know that they will watch your back if you watch theirs."

Laxus and I stood in front of the doors. "Alright, Laxus, I'll bust open the doors and hit the floor. I want you to try _Lightning Dragon Roar_. If anyone is left standing after that, I'll be able to shield their attack. Okay?"

He nodded, face filling with determination. "Okay."

I smiled. "Let's get these suckers."

I slammed the doors open and hit the ground.

Above me I heard an inhale of air, followed by Laxus shouting, " _Lightning Dragon ROAR!"_

The result was spectacular. The roar decimated everyone, standing or sitting, leaving clear destruction in its wake.

Or, for a first attempt, anyway. Nothing compared to what I've seen of the dragon slayers in the future.

"Woah," Laxus muttered.

I can't wait to tell him it was a pretty weak attack.

When the smoke cleared, three men were left standing; presumably the mages.

"M-Monster!" one of them cried.

"No," one of them corrected. "Children." He held up an arm. " _Wave of Fire!_ " A (you guessed it) wave of fire spread across his sweeping arm and hurtled in our direction.

I channeled my magic through my hands and slammed them on the ground, shouting, " _Earth Rock Shield!_ "

A wall from the ground shot up, blocking Laxus and I from the attack.

"Cool," he whispered behind me.

" _Earth's Green Fist!"_ I shouted, and the wall in front of me changed into a giant fist and smacked into the three standing mages, sending them flying.

"Wow," Laxus breathed, before shouting. "Wow, Elle, your magic is _awesome!_ "

I smiled at him. "Thanks."

The three mages were lying unconscious on the floor, and no one was left standing.

Cana and Juvia ran up, followed by Levy.

"We've got Levy!" Cana shouted, before slowing to a stop as she eyed the destruction. "Woah."

"Wow…" Juvia said.

"You guys did this?" Levy asked, also in awe.

I nodded. "It's nice to meet you, Levy. My name is Elle, and he's Laxus."

"How are you guys so powerful?" she said, looking from Laxus and I to Cana and Juvia.

"Simple," I said, smiling. "We're Fairy Tail."

She blinked. "Where are your guild marks?"

I looked at all of us. Juvia had hers on her leg and Cana had hers on her stomach, and they were both wearing dresses. Mine was on my back and my jacket was on, and Laxus , who had his on his chest, was wearing his shirt.

"Dammit!" I lamented. "None of our guild marks are showing! That's so not cool! I should have taken my jacket off! And Laxus, next time take off your shirt."

"What?" he sputtered. "Why would I do that? What kind of idiot strips in a fight?"

I snickered, and his eyes widened.

I sighed and requipped my jacket away, so at least _my_ mark was showing. I turned to look at Juvia and Cana. "Did you come across anyone else?"

They shook their heads. "There was one guy watching her, but he ran off after the noises started," Cana said.

"Damn," I muttered. "Did we miss him?"

"No," Laxus said, shaking his head. "He was the third mage. He must have come in before the smoke cleared, because I didn't see him before." He pointed to a man lying on the floor. "Is that him?"

They nodded.

I smiled at them. "Great. Now, let's keep them here, alert the local authorities, and go to the hospital."

"How do we keep them here?" Cana asked.

I smirked. "Leave it to me."

Walking forward, I closed my eyes and concentrated on my magic, spreading out my arms. " _Arms…of the Earth!_ " I shouted. Dozens of vines shot out of the ground, curling around every one of the bandits and shooting back into the ground, locking them into place. Once the spell was finished, I let my arms down, a little tired.

"Wow!" Levy breathed.

"Onee-sama!" Juvia cheered. "That was awesome!"

I smiled at them. "Come on. Let's speak to the mayor."


	12. Levy, Part Three

**Chapter Twelve - Levy, Part Three**

"What do you mean you can't take the reward?" the mayor shouted.

"I mean, we can't take it," I said. "We didn't accept the mission; hell, we didn't even know that there _was_ a mission to take out your bandit problem."

"But you took care of all of them!" the mayor said, aghast. "Literally, and the Rune Knights had trouble hacking them out of those weird vines."

I smirked, and I could hear Cana and Juvia giggling behind us.

"Look, I'm sorry, but we can't accept the reward," I told him.

"I need to give you _something_ ," the mayor said.

"If you have any gate keys, we'll take those," Laxus piped up.

"Laxus!" I shouted at him.

He shrugged. "What? I know you're looking for them, and I also know you won't turn them down."

I glared at him, but said nothing.

"There actually is something. It's a town treasure, but it is a Celestial Gate Key, and we're not quite sure what to do with it," the mayor said. "But I would like to give it to you. That is the type of keys you're speaking of, yes?"

 _Seriously, are there any other types of gate keys?_ I thought.

"Yes," I said.

The man opened up his desk and withdrew a box. Slowly, he handed it to me.

I opened it, and gasped.

"Ophiuchus," I breathed.

"You know what this is?" he asked.

I nodded.

"Then take it. Please."

"Yeah, Elle, take it!" Laxus said.

I glared at him, before sighing. "Fine. Thank you for this token, it will be treasured forever, and I promise this spirit will be treated like a friend, and not a tool."

The mayor relaxed. "That's more than I could even ask for. Thank you, Fairy Tail."

We nodded and left the building, Cana and Juvia cheering.

I sighed as we walked, shaking my head at their antics.

"Onee-sama?" Juvia asked. "Why do you want gate keys?"

"A friend of mine is a Celestial Wizard," I told her. "She's going to join Fairy Tail someday, too, but for now, she's busy practicing and training. Her mother is a Celestial Wizard, too, so she's been tutoring her."

We walked toward the hospital, to say goodbye to Levy, when I spotted her.

"Levy?" I asked her. "Shouldn't you be visiting your Grandma?"

She burst into tears and ran forward, hugging me. Sobbing, she got out, "Gran-Grandma pass-ss-ssed away las-st nigh-ght."

I hugged her back. "I'm sorry, Levy." Cana and Juvia joined our hug, and I glared at Laxus until he sighed and joined us.

I continued to glare at him. He's eleven. How is he already a fucking tsundere? He doesn't even _have_ a rep to protect, or anything!

Is this because he's surrounded by girls? He needs to act more manly to counteract us, or something stupid like that?

Actually, for all I know, that thought might actually be running through his mind.

I will never understand boys.

"Co-Could I j-join Fairy Tai-il?" she sobbed out.

I let go of the hug and got down on my knees, so I was level with her. I was only four years older, but Levy was _tiny_. "Listen Levy, Fairy Tail is a _wizard's_ guild. You can join, but you'd have to be a mage. And you'd have to train with us. While your shelter, food, water, and other basic needs will be taken care of, it's still hard work being a mage, and then afterwards, when you start going on missions, you need to pay for yourself. Do you think you can do that?"

She nodded, wiping away her tears. "Yeah! And I'll take a bunch of jobs stopping bandits so this doesn't happen to anyone else."

I smiled and hugged her. "That's the spirit. Come on, let's go to your house. We'll pack up all your stuff, and then sell anything you don't want, so you have extra Jewel."

"Really?" she asked.

I nodded. "In fact, why don't you guys go help her pack up. I'm gonna talk to the mayor real quickly."

They nodded and followed Levy, who walked to her house. I turned and ran back to the mayor's office and knocked on the door.

He answered, "Yes?" He looked at me in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Levy McGarden's grandmother has passed," I told him. "She wants to join Fairy Tail, and become a mage. I was hoping that you could get in contact with Fairy Tail when someone wants to buy or rent her house, we're putting it on the market."

He nodded. "I can easily do that. I'll do it for free, too, for what you did to this town, and for what the poor girl has suffered. I also suggest you put their magical shop up for sale, and check it for any interesting magical items you want. You can take the rest back to your guild."

I smiled at him and bowed. "Thank you very much, sir."

He laughed. "Thank you, little lady. This bandit problem has plagued us for generations."

I smiled at him. "If you ever get bandit problems again, just put in a call to Fairy Tail. Even if our team in specific doesn't come to stop them, I'll make sure to send someone to take on the job!"

He laughed and waved me off as I ran in the direction of Levy's house.

Following directions, I discovered that their house was quite close to their shop, and knocked on the door. Juvia let me in, leading me to Levy's room as Laxus ranted about her books.

"Seriously, why do you have so much, are you trying to drown in books?" he yelled.

Cana and Juvia giggled while Levy crossed her arms. "I'm not leaving any of them behind!"

"We can't carry all of these to Magnolia!" he shouted.

I laughed out loud. "Don't worry, Levy, I have plenty of extra room in my requip space, so I ought to be able to hold it."

I looked around her room, and gestured for them to put most of her extra stuff on her bed. After wrapping her mattress and things tight in a blanket, and putting tape across the front of her book shelves so the books don't fall out, I requipped them into my storage space, which was now the size of a large room. That being said, even with all of Levy's stuff, I still had over two-thirds of the room left.

I turned to Levy. "Levy, the mayor is going to put the house up for sale or rent, and contact Fairy Tail when we get an offer. You alright with that?"

She nodded. "We can leave the furniture here, right?"

I nodded. "Is there anything else you want?"

She shook her head.

"Alright, I need you to hold onto all of your house keys, I'll drop them off at the mayor's before we get on the train. Other than that, we also need to stop at the magic shop. We're putting that up, too, and the mayor said we could go through the shop and take what we want."

"Yay!" Juvia yelled, jumping up and down. "Treasure!"

"Treasure?" Levy asked, as we left the house and locked it behind us.

"Elle tends to find treasure," Cana explained.

Laxus sighed. "Everything from jewelry to magical items, so the fact that we get to find some ourselves makes them happy."

"It makes you happy, too, you damn tsundere," I muttered under my breath.

We entered the shop, and I turned to them. "Guys, we're going to take everything that's here. Anything we (and the guild) don't want, we can sell to another magic shop. So clear everything off the shelves, and put them in bags over there." I pointed at the checkout counter, which held bags. "I'll put as much as I can in my requip space, but we'll probably have to carry some. We'll leave the shelves. Try to keep them organized by magical item."

The girls couldn't help 'ooh'ing and 'ahh'ing over the different magical items as they packed them. I couldn't help laughing as I went over to the gate keys, looking through them. I didn't recognize any of them (at least not immediately) so I could assume Lucy didn't have them. I requipped them into my special space for keys.

Walking around the room, I packed up a bunch of the bags, while Cana held aside a bag with a sample of each main product. "No, I want to play with this stuff on the train," she said.

I laughed. "Alright."

Levy was looking at the magical books, and I pulled them down from the shelf and requipped all except one. "I promise you get first pick of all the books, Levy. Any you don't want, the guild library can have, and if you want them all, then so be it. This was your parents shop; you deserve to take what you want."

Her eyes got tears in them, and she hugged me. "Thank you Elle-chan."

"Hey, don't cry," I told her, wiping away her tears. "We're a family now. And this book," I held up the last book on the shelf, "is for you."

She took it from me and looked at the cover. " _An Instruction in Solid Script_ ," she read. "What's that?"

"That," I said, "is what I believe your magic will be. I think it fits you perfectly."

"She's right," Laxus said. "We've got a solid script mage at the guild. He's a bit old, and will probably retire soon, but until then I'm sure he'll help train you."

She smiled, teary eyed again, and she held her book to her chest. "Thank you," she whispered.

I smiled, and looked at the shop, which was cleared out. "Alright guys, let's lock up. You guys go to the station and I'll give the keys to the mayor."

They nodded and we split ways as I locked the door behind us.

I jogged over to the Mayor's house and handed him the keys. As I left the house, I measured the amount of magical power I had, and realized that I'd be able to teleport just fine now, which was good. I had been worried about how much energy I had left after using my Earth Magic, and then requipping so much.

I teleported to the station and appeared right next to the rest of the group.

"Ahhhhh!" Cana yelled, before calming down. "Ah, I forgot you could do that," she admitted.

Juvia giggled.

"You can teleport, too?" Levy asked.

I smiled at her. "Mmmhmmm. Now, Laxus, did you get the tickets?"

"Kinda," he said.

"What do you mean, 'kinda'?" I asked.

"I mean that I have no Jewel on me so I can't pay for them, but I managed to get the ticket guy to put them aside."

I nodded and walked up to the ticket guy, asking about the five tickets and gesturing back at the rest of the group. Quickly handing them over, I paid the Jewel, and we got on the train.

I turned to Levy. "Levy, on the way there, we're going to try to unlock your magic. Once you find it, you should be able to meditate easily enough."

She nodded.

"Alright, first, breathe," I told her. "Control your breathing. Magic is everywhere. It's in the air, it's in the water, it's in our bodies. Just breathing it in circulates the magic. It is quite literally flowing through your veins. You should feel a bit empty inside, and that's your magical container. Once you activate your magic, that will start to fill, and meditating expands it. Can you feel the magic?"

She shook her head. Her eyes were squinted shut.

"Alright, well, Laxus, Juvia, and Cana are going to start meditating," I told her, before giving them a meaningful glance. They got into positions.

"I want you to concentrate on the air; the way it smells, tastes, and feels. Breathe it in, breathe it out. Do you feel their magic building? Do you feel it resonating? All you have to do it get on the right frequency."

The train started moving, but Levy didn't notice. She breathed in, and out, in, and out, and she slowly began to glow a blue color, the same as her hair.

"Congratulations, Levy," I told her softly. "Keep ahold of what you are doing, and open your eyes."

She opened her eyes and gasped, looking at her body. "Wow," she breathed.

I smiled. "I know the feeling. Concentrate on that, try to manipulate the energy. That is what magic is."

We spent the rest of the time meditating.


	13. Levy, Part Four

**Chapter Thirteen - Levy, Part Four (and a Little More Laxus)**

Master Makarov stared at the four of us, his eyes darting between our group and Levy, who was getting her guild stamp with Enno.

"Elle, you took Laxus and _two five year olds_ to take down bandits!"

"Actually," Cana interrupted. "I'm six."

We turned to look at her. "We'll be talking about this later," I told her. "We don't just _not celebrate_ your birthday, Cana."

I turned back to Makarov. "Yes, I did, and I wouldn't change a thing. Especially since Laxus and I _alone_ were able to take down all of the bandits with only _three_ attacks."

He paused and blinked. "Three attacks?"

I smirked. "Three attacks."

"How?" he asked.

"You already know we're pretty powerful, especially for our age," I told him. "Also, you know how strong Lost Magicks are."

His eyes widened. "I know Laxus has the lacrima, but I never knew you have Lost Magic, Elle."

I nodded. "I'm practicing Planetary Magic. So far, the only one I can use is Earth. However, sometime soon, within the next year or so, I was hoping that I could spend some time on Tenrou so I could learn Venus, Mars, and Neptune."

Wide-eyed, he just sort of nodded, said, "No more missions without adults until you're thirteen," and went back to the second floor.

"Listen up, brats!" he yelled, though still in a sort of shock. "Today is a special day in history. Today is the day when our children snuck off to another town, saved a kidnapped child, and took on an entire group of bandits, despite their age. Let's hear it for them, and for Fairy Tail; because we're number one!"

Everyone held up the L sign Laxus came up with, including me and Cana. Juvia and Levy looked at us confused and shrugged before doing the same.

Laxus was blushing. Damn tsundere.

I laughed and we all went to the training room, followed by Levy. She had read most of the book on Solid Script Magic on the way there, and was interested in testing it.

We spent the rest of the day meditating and training, as I watched Levy try _Solid Script; Water_ , as a sort of dedication to Juvia, who managed to cut her binds with her water.

Afterwards, I walked Levy up to Fairy Hills with Cana and Juvia, and unloaded her things into her room, leaving the magical items in my requip space for another time.

"Get some rest," I told her. "And don't forget to eat. You can unpack everything tomorrow morning, alright."

She beamed. "Alright, Elle-chan. Thank you."

I smiled at her. "Goodnight, Levy."

That being done, I teleported home, exhausted, and collapsed into bed.

* * *

"What do you think?" Mavis asked.

"I think she's insane, and I don't like it," Makarov grumbled.

"Oh, please, I know that you like her."

"So, I like her, she's being reckless!" Makarov yelled.

"What if it was worse in the original timeline?" Mavis asked.

"We don't even know the original timeline!" Makarov said.

"Well, I like her," Mavis said. "She has a good heart."

"She kidnapped my children!"

"I don't think it's kidnapping if they willingly followed her," Mavis said.

"I don't care if they willingly followed her! She could probably try to bring Zeref back to life and they'd follow her!"

"Exactly."

Makarov froze. "What?"

"The kids all look up to Elle - and all she's doing is expanding your family. I know that you like Levy, and I know that, despite your misgivings, you think of Elle as one of your own.

Makarov looked away. "So I care for her a bit; I don't like this!"

"I think you should trust her," Mavis said.

"I don't want to!"

"What about Ivan?"

Makarov paused. "That's different. He actively hurt her, and...what he did to Laxus..."

"Yeah, and she told you about it. She actively changed it; changed the guild for the better. I think you should trust her."

Makarov sighed. "Fine. I'll continue letting her have free reign. But if this gets worse, I"m having a serious discussion about the future with her."

"That's fine," Mavis said. "And I'll probably join you."

* * *

The next day, I cornered Laxus, and brought him to Makarov's office.

"I'm going to take Laxus to the woods to train," I told Makarov. "You can have him back in a few days."

He looked at me, who grinned confidently (alright, and maybe a little evilly) to Laxus, who gulped upon seeing my smile.

Makarov (who was a sadist at heart) smiled at me like the kindly old man he was. "Well, you kids have fun then!"

My smile grew and I grabbed Laxus's hand, teleporting us to a forest near my house.

"Alright," Laxus said nervously. "What now?"

"Do you remember the _Roar_ you did at the bandits' place?" I asked him.

He nodded.

"We need to practice that," I told him. "It was weak."

His eyes bulged. "WHAT? How was that _weak_? It totally destroyed them!"

I gave him a look. "It's a roar of a _dragon_ , dumbass. You know, those giant, element-breathing lizards?"

"Element-breathing? I thought it was fire." Laxus said.

"Laxus, your spell incantation is literally _Lightning Dragon Roar_. That means that there is a Lightning Dragon. Come on, haven't you ever seen a dragon breathe something other than fire?"

"I've never seen a dragon, ever," Laxus told me.

I ignored him. "So come on, let's practice your spells! Once you get used to your dragon magic, the rest should come to you in time."

He looked around the forest warily. "I don't really want to destroy Magnolia's forests, Elle."

I rolled my eyes. "That's what I'm here for. My magic ought to fix the things you break. Well, most of them, anyway."

"Now," I grinned at him. "Let's get started."

Later that night I brought Laxus to my cottage and showed him inside.

"You actually live here?" he asked. "That is _sooooo cool_. I wish Jiji would let me live on my own."

I gave a sad sort of smile. Yeah, it was kind of nice, but damn, was I lonely.

Maybe I should get a pet.

Like an Exceed.

I mean, come on, the dragon slayers can't hog all of them. And if they can, then mine can just be Laxus's officially and mine under the table.

Except the Exceeds don't come to Earthland until X778.

Dammit!

 _You could get a regular cat_ , my thoughts suggested.

I sighed and spoke aloud. "Yeah, but I'm a bit lonely, so I'm gonna get a pet. Probably a cat. Maybe a dog, then I could take it to the guild…"

I shook my thoughts off and turned to Laxus. "Anyway, did you bring the clothes I asked you to?"

He looked at me. "What are you talking about, Elle? You never told me to bring clothes."

"Damn it!" I yelled. "I knew I forgot something. Aghghgh, just get in the shower, I'll get some spare clothes from your house. Towels are in the cabinet under the sink."

I teleported into Laxus and Makarov's house, and Makarov jumped two feet into the air as I appeared beside him. "Elle, you can't just do that! At least have the common curtesy to teleport outside the house, and knock on the doors!"

I rolled my eyes, but kept note of it. Maybe. I kinda like sneaking into people's houses. Now I understand why Natsu, Gray, and Erza break into Lucy's home all the time.

"Laxus forgot clothes, so I'm here to pick them up."

Makarov sighed, gesturing to what I assume was Laxus's room. "Since you guys went on the mission, he decided to keep a suitcase full of the things he'd need under his bed."

"Thanks," I told him. "'Night, Master."

I grabbed the suitcase under the bed, and popped out.

I popped back into my room, knocked on the bathroom door, and yelled, "Laxus, your suitcase of shit is right outside the door!"

"Okay," Laxus yelled back.

I turned to the kitchen and put water in a pot and set it to boil. I noticed the sound of shower being turned off, and I saw a hand reach out and grab the suitcase.

A few minutes later, Laxus came out fully dressed. "What are you doing?"

"Making noodles for dinner."

"Why noodles?" he asked.

I shrugged. "It's easy to cook, and I'm too tired for anything more complicated."

We ate dinner and I pointed him to the guest bedroom, and then I collapsed on my bed.

I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

Which is probably why I missed and hit the headboard instead.

"Owwwww," I moaned, clutching my head.

"Elle? You okay?" Laxus shouted.

"Yeah," I shouted back. "I'm good."

I climbed into bed like a normal person. "Goodnight, Laxus."

"Goodnight."

* * *

A week later, we returned to the guild, Laxus a lot more confident in his dragon magic. While practicing, he also ended up casting _Lightning Dragon's Breakdown Fist._ When he saw it, he excitedly turned to me and said, "Elle, Elle, it's like yours! Except lightning!"

Damn, why were all of these kids so _adorable_?

The two of us were glomped by the three other kids the moment we got back, who all had things to show us. Cana had created the cards for her _Summon Lightning Aerial Attack_ , and Juvia wanted to show us _Water Lock_ , which she also made. Levy excitedly showed us _Solid Script; Lightning_ and _Solid Script; Earth_ , excited that she could do all of our elements.

I smirked. "Hey, Levy, do you trust me?"

"Hmm?" she asked. "Of course I do, Elle-chan. Why?"

"I need you to send your lightning spell straight at Laxus."

"What?" she yelled. "But I could hurt him!"

"Nah, he'll be fine," I said.

Laxus nodded, eager to try eating lightning.

"Alright," Levy said nervously. " _Solid Script; Lightning!"_

We all watched as the attack went straight to Laxus, who opened his mouth and swallowed it.

"WHAT?" all three girls screamed.

I laughed. "Laxus is a dragon slayer, and slayers eat their element."

Laxus finished eating, and took a deep breath. "You're right Elle, I finally feel full again. I was wondering what was wrong."

I smiled at them. "One more surprise, Levy. I brought treasure!"

Like before I spread my arms and emptied out the jewelry of my requip space, allowing a pile of treasure to appear before me.

"You can find a necklace of your choosing and keep it, Levy. It's my welcome to Fairy Tail gift."

"We all have one," Cana said, pointing at the amethyst around her neck.

"Juvia has a sapphire!" Juvia said excitedly.

I pointed at my moonstone. "They insisted I have one too. I always wear it. So go on, choose."

Levy searched through the pile and pulled out a necklace with a metal-like pendant on it, with a cobalt blue stone in the middle of it. "This one," she said excitedly.

I requipped the other things back into my space and smiled at her.

Meanwhile, in my head, I was hoping that I had enough blue jewelry for everyone. It seemed to be a favorite, and I know Lisanna and Mirajane have blue eyes too.

* * *

Three days later, Laxus cornered me. "Elle, I can't stand it."

"Can't stand what?" I asked.

"I'm surrounded by girls!" he yelled.

I looked at him flatly. "I'm a girl."

"I know that! But you said that these are all people who would join Fairy Tail eventually, right?"

I nodded.

"Well, can the next person be a _boy_?"

I laughed and smiled. "Yeah, and I know exactly who I'm gonna pick, too."

Laxus gulped at the look in my eyes. "I change my mind."

I cackled.

"Elle, I said I change my mind!"

My cackling got louder, and I vanished.

At home, I put on my astral projection helmet and thought of a specific person, and then I was flying above the clouds.

* * *

 **Who is it? Care to take a guess?**

 **No seriously, please guess the best parts of reviews is when they guess something or point out favorite parts. :)**


	14. Freed, Part One

**Chapter Fourteen - Freed, Part One**

I frowned at the scene before me.

In a lavish mansion, Freed Justine was being yelled at by his father about his desire to practice magic.

Honestly, it wasn't all that dissimilar to Lucy's situation. Given Freed's stuffy manner of dress (not to mention his longer hair), I wasn't surprised he was from a wealthy or noble family.

His father still surprised me, though. "If you love magic so much, why don't I just disown you? You can join one of those _wizard guilds_ and become a _mage_ ," he sneered down at his seven year old son.

"Then perhaps I will!" Freed said coldly, leaving the room and angrily walking to his.

Wanting to be super badass and mysterious, I immediately stopped astral projecting and took my helmet off, before teleporting into his room.

I sat quietly on his bed as the stomping of feet came closer, and Freed burst through the door and shut it behind him, without even seeing me.

"Hello," I said plainly.

"Ahhhh!" he yelled, jumping into the air.

I giggled. Freed was so composed in the future, it was hilarious seeing him act as a child.

"Hello," I repeated. "I heard you're looking to join a wizard guild?"

He stared at me.

I stared at him.

"How did you come by that information?" he asked.

"Magic. Duh," I told him.

He got this look on his face, (a look I've seen a lot at the guild,) that I'm starting to associate as the ' _Oh great, Elle's being Elle again_ ' look.

"Anyway," I said, ignoring his look. "I'm here to help you run away!"

"Run away?" he asked.

"Yeah," I told him. "That's what you want, right? To get away from this stuffy place, to have friends, and have fun, and practice magic! So I'm here to take you to my guild."

Slowly, he came and sat down next to me. "Will…you tell me about it?"

"If you tell me about your magic."

His hand tightened on the sword on his belt; the same sword, I noticed, that he had in the future. Though it looked rather large for him now, because of his size. "My tutor, who knew I wanted to learn magic, gave me this sword as a gift, so I could write runes. I practice Rune Magic. Father was threatening to take away my sword, maybe even break it. Then I couldn't practice magic."

Wait. Did that mean that Freed was actually a holder mage?

You know what, it doesn't matter. _Get your head in the game, Elle_.

"I belong to the wizard guild Fairy Tail," I told him. "It's a wonderful place, and it's more than a guild; it's a family. A home. All of the members fight for each other, and support one another."

I turned to look at him directly. "You don't have to worry about being the only kid. I'm there, of course, and there are also three other girls, all who are younger than you. There's a boy, too, his name is Laxus. He's eleven and super strong. And don't let his attitude fool you, he's very kind and cares about us all. He would gladly hurt others to keep us safe."

Freed was engrossed with my every word.

"Two of the girls, Levy and Juvia, are both five. Despite that, they're pretty proficient at magic, even though Levy only started a few weeks ago. Juvia was born with her magic, and she's becoming quite skilled in it. Cana is six, and she's been in the guild the longest. She's strong, and very bold. Levy is an excited little muffin, and Juvia tends to be shy at first, but adjusts fairly quickly now. Levy also loves to read, and I'm sure you two will get along great! We would love to have you join. And until you can actively support yourself, all of your basic needs are taken care of. We'll give you a place to stay, and keep you fed and watered. I know Laxus especially would like someone who is _not_ a girl, seeing as he's surrounded by them."

"Laxus," he whispered. "Levy…Juvia…Cana."

"You'll probably have to dumb down some of your vocabulary for them," I told him, smiling. "Levy might be able to understand you, but she's also two years younger than you."

He nodded. "Not everyone has been supplied with tutoring as I have." He turned to me. "May I see your guild mark,…what is your name?"

"My full name is Eleanor," I said, taking off my jacket and showing him the Fairy Tail sign on my back. "And I will take just about any variation of the name except for the original. I tend to go by Elle."

He gave me a good, long look, before he went down on one knee as if he was going to propose, and held his sword down in front of him. "Very well, Ella-sama, I shall join you on your quest. My sword is yours to command. Please take me to your guild."

Well that was the first 'Ella' I'd gotten, but I suppose to him it probably sounds more refined. Oh well.

I put a hand on his arm. "Freed," I told him. "You don't need to be so formal. We're going to be a family! You are my nakama now."

He shook his head, remaining adamantly stubborn. "No, I shall refer to you as Ella-sama."

"Freed…" I sighed.

"Either that or Ella-hime, your choice."

Ella- _hime_? He wanted to go around, calling me _Princess Ella_ in front of other people?

"Fine," I told him. "You may call me Ella-sama. Now, what would you like to take with you?"

"My library, if possible."

"Do you mean the family library, or the books in here?" I asked him.

"The books in here," he said. "Although…"

"Relax," I told him. "You're going to run away; you haven't been kicked out. Which means you can take what you need. I suggest you take some Jewel for you as well, as you probably won't start working as a mage for a while. Even though you won't need to worry about a lot of things, it's still nice to have some cash on hand."

He nodded. "Understood, Ella-sama."

I patted his shoulder. "Get what you want from your library, and try to get Jewel if you can. If you can't, I can help you get some later, and I have a few ideas to help you get more money, too. I'll pack."

He looked at me curiously. "How will you know what to take?"

I blinked at him. "I was gonna take all of it. Is there something you want to leave behind?"

He shook his head. "No, but I thought it'd be hard to sneak out of here with all my things."

I smirked. "For normal people, yes. For me…no. Now, go get your books."

Freed left the room and I started requipping his things into my storage space, which was about the size of a decent living room – maybe somewhere between 30 and 30 feet?

Which was good, because Freed had more things than Levy.

And I was still carrying most of the things from Levy's shop.

I started with his clothes, moving into the walk in closet.

Geez, it was huge, and it was all fancy stuff. Well, at least we can sell what he doesn't want as costumes or something. And he'll grow out of them all eventually.

Finishing with the closet, I went to the dresser, and requipped that too.

Geez, I think he had more clothes than Lucy.

Well, that's probably not true but holy shit, there are a lot of clothes.

I sighed and turned to the bed, wrapping it up in everything it needed, and requipping that as well (which was _hard_. That bed was huge).

Following that, I went up to the bookcases which were (unfortunately) built into the wall. Sighing, I started to requip each shelf individually. I was able to at least get them in rows. If I had to requip every single book one by one I think I'd go crazy.

I had just finished emptying the room of things (I even took the curtains, hehehe), when Freed came back in.

"How…how on earth did you do all this? Where did it all go?" he gasped.

I smiled at him. "I basically put it in a pocket dimension."

"You were able to requip my entire _room_?"

Oh, right. Scholar. Of course he knows what requip means.

"Yep. You have the books you want?"

He nodded. "I also managed to take all of the hidden cash in the library."

I nodded as I took the books and requipped them. "Cool, keep that on you. Is there anything else you want to do before we leave?"

He shook his head.

I held out my arm. "Then hold on."

Hesitantly, he reached out, and took it.

And we left his life behind.

* * *

 **Sorry about the wait. Thank you all for your wonderful reviews, and your guesses, even if you were wrong! :) Unfortunately, most of the main characters won't be coming in for awhile because of when they started learning magic. You'll mostly be seeing characters who back stories aren't known, because I can bring them in now.**

 **Also, the best part of reviews is when you point out something you particularly like in a chapter! *hint hint*  
**


	15. Freed, Part Two

**Chapter Fifteen - Freed, Part Two**

I teleported us directly outside the guild. "Welcome to Fairy Tail!" I spread my arms wide. "I know it may not look like much, compared to where you come from, but it's home."

I opened the doors, and noticed the soft smile on Freed's face as he was immediately enveloped in the homey-feel of the guild. "Everyone, I'm back, and I brought a new member!"

"She's doing it again," Macao said.

"Excuse me, but doing what?" Freed asked him.

Wakaba shook his head. "Ever since Ellie arrived-"

"Elle!" I yelled at him. The only reason they called me 'Ellie' was because it sounded childish. I was fine with them calling me Ellie for any other reason, but not because it sounded 'cutesy'.

Wakaba continued. "She's been pulling out all of these kid mages out of nowhere. You're popping up like flies. First Juvia, then Levy, now you!"

I snickered. "Oh, I'm just getting started!"

"What are you doing, Elle?" Macao asked.

I cackled evilly. "I'm building an army!"

Silence.

I dropped the act. "I'm kidding. Yeesh."

As I took Freed away from those idiots and towards Enno for a stamp, I heard Macao say, "She may be kidding, but sometimes it really seems that way, doesn't it?"

 _Yeah_ , I thought. _Sometimes it does._

* * *

Freed, the adorable polite child that he was, bowed to the girls when he met them. "It is a pleasure to meet the ones that Ella-sama has spoken of so highly," he said. Then he turned to Laxus, and did the same thing he did to me, with one knee on the ground.

"Laxus-sama," he breathed. "It is an honor to meet you. Just like with Ella-sama, my sword is yours if you need it. I am here to help serve you."

A moment of shocked silence. Then…

"Elle, what the hell did you do!" Laxus cried.

I cackled. "Nothing!"

"Elle, I'm serious," he yelled, running at me (probably to shake some sense back into me or something).

I took off running.

I haven't had this much fun in ages.

Or…ever, really.

"Damn it, Elle, get back here!"

It seems that now that Laxus has cursed, he's not going to stop.

I cackled loudly and dramatically as I ran through the doors back into the guild hall, causing a scene. Every eye was on us as they watched Laxus chase me around the hall.

"That's it!" Laxus yelled. " _Lightning Dragon Roar!_ "

What he'd done was smart; he obviously wasn't trying to hurt me, just block me off into a corner.

Except he kinda forgot how powerful his roars were, and now there was a hole in the wall.

"Shit!" Laxus cried.

"So that's how it is, huh?" I asked him. "You wanna fight?"

"Uh…no, not really," Laxus said.

"Do it! Do it!" Cana cheered from the sidelines.

"Go Onee-sama!" Juvia said happily.

"If you're going to fight, dammit, TAKE IT OUTSIDE!" Makarov shouted, looking sadly at the wall.

"It's not like it's anything worse than Gildarts has done," Laxus said.

But the pressure was on him now, and the entire guild made their way outside to watch our fight.

"Elle, please, you're scary," Laxus said (finally not acting like a damn tsundere, for once). "I feel like fighting you would be like fighting Gildarts."

My eyes twinkled. "You think I'm as strong as Gildarts?"

"No!" he yelled. "But you're really powerful, and you're kinda insane!"

"You take that back!" I yelled at him.

Everyone stared at us.

"I am not _kinda_ insane, I'm _completely_ insane!" I started laughing evilly again.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Laxus cried.

I paused my laughing. "Was I supposed to make you feel better?"

He sweatdropped.

"Come on, fight already!" Cana yelled.

"Yeah, this seems pretty interesting…" Levy said.

"Indeed," Freed said. "What a brilliant strategy to teach me about fighting. As expected of Ella-sama, of course."

I sweatdropped. He was supposed to worship Laxus. Not me!

"Alright, Freed," I told him. "I'm gonna put you to the test."

He hesitated.

"Don't be worried," I told him. "I need you to draw runes that will stop any magic from leaving our battle space. Can you do that?"

He nodded as he pulled his sword. "Yes, Ella-sama. Give us a moment."

"You know, I don't think I even know what type of magic Ellie has," Wakaba muttered.

"My magic is called 'Go Fuck Yourself'," I told him.

"What does that mean?" Juvia asked.

"Nothing," Cana said. "She's just messing with the adults because she finds them annoying."

"Oh," Juvia said. "Thank you, Cana-san."

Freed finished drawing the runes, and Laxus worriedly looked at me from across the training grounds.

I sighed, he really didn't want to do this.

"You know what, I have a better idea!" I said. "Instead of fighting Laxus, I'm going to fight Macao!"

"What?" Macao cried. "I'm not fighting you, Elle, you're nine!"

"Yeah, plus you couldn't take Macao," Wakaba said.

"Oh yeah?" I asked. "I can take both of you! At the same time."

 _Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck fuck FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!_

I had just spent a fuck-ton of energy teleporting Freed and requipping his room. NOT GOOD.

 _You're lucky if you're strong enough to take on one of them, but you can't do both! You idiot!_

The crowd had gasped at my declaration. Macao and Wakaba immediately denied fighting, though because of my age or because of Laxus's fear was another matter.

"What?" I asked them. "You chicken?"

The two looked at each other. "At least have Laxus as a partner," Macao suggested.

 _Take it! Take it take it take it, Elle!_

I scoffed. "Please, we'd roast you two in a few seconds. If it's just one of us, you might actually have a fighting chance."

 _Noooooooooo! What's wrong with my mouth! Ahhhhhhhhh! I'm doomed and I'm going to lose after acting so cocky, Ahhhhhhhh that's so fucking embarrassing!_

"Okay, that's it!" Wakaba said. "I'm doing it!"

Macao sighed. "Fine."

They entered the field and Laxus safely made his way to the sidelines, with the rest of the kids.

I measured my magic. Ignoring the last two of my spells (which would be stupid to use here), I could probably only use five or six attacks.

 _Fuckkkkkkkkkkk._

What do I do if I get that far and haven't done anything?

 _Do five attacks and then teleport and kick them in the nuts. Duh_.

Huh. That could work.

But still, fuuuuiuuuuuuuuck.

"Go, Onee-sama!" Juvia shouted, jumping in the air.

"Yeah, kick their asses!" Cana yelled.

Man, why were they all so fucking adorable!

I turned to look at the two. "I'm ready."

"Get ready," Makarov said. "Get set….fight!"

Macao made the first move. " _Purple Rain_ ," he shouted, and a series of tiny flames shot at me, a bit like bullets.

I gritted my teeth. They weren't even trying. I know I'm a kid, but still.

" _Earth Rock Shield!_ " I shouted summoning the ground in front of me like a wall. " _Earth's Green Fist!"_

Just like before, the wall turned into a giant stone fist and it flew in the direction of Macao and Wakaba, slamming them to the other side of the training grounds.

 _Is that one or two attacks?_ I thought.

 _Two. Go with two._

"Incredible," Freed breathed.

Laxus nodded. "Yeah. That's how she took out the bandits. Two hits. That was all it took."

"Onee-sama…" Juvia whispered, stars in her eyes.

" _Don't_ underestimate me," I said darkly, as Macao and Wakaba got up from the ground. "I know how to fight, and I know my magic. I'm a member of Fairy Tail, just like you, so give it your all, understood!"

 _Why are you encouraging them?_

 _I. DON'T. Know!_

"Alright kid, we hear you," Wakaba said.

 _Nooooo, don't hear me!_

"Loud and clear," Macao finished.

 _Quiet and muffled, please! Ahhhhh!_

" _Purple Net!_ " Macao shouted, and a net made of fire came my way. I dodged it, right into another spell. " _Smoke Crush!"_ Wakaba shouted, and fists made of smoke attacked me.

I dodged the fists as well as I could, though I got scraped up a bit, and shouted, " _Arms of the Earth!_ "

Vines shot from the ground and curled around Macao and Wakaba, stretching them out, helplessly.

"You wield, yet?" I asked happily, trying to hide my panting.

 _Three attacks._

"Nope," Macao smirked.

Wakaba disappeared, turning into smoke, and I realized I had caught a clone.

" _Smoke Balls!_ " came from behind me, and I dodged before I could get hit…leaving all of the smoke-like balls to pummel Macao.

"Wakaba!" he shouted.

"Sorry," Wakaba said.

" _Melting_ _Earth_!" I yelled, plunging my hand into the ground. The floor under both of them liquidated, and they started to sink. " _Earth's Green Fist_!" came next, and they were both knocked completely into the liquidating ground before it hardened around them and locked them in place. The only part of them that could be seen was their heads.

"Elle wins!" Makarov announced.

 _Oh thank heavens I am EXHAUSTED._

The kids ran over and glomped me. Well, mostly the girls.

And by girls, I really mean Juvia, who hit me like a train.

Cana joined the hug a second later, and Levy stood next to the hug jumping up and down excitedly. "That was so cool, Elle-chan!"

I smiled at her. "Thank you, Levy."

Laxus smirked. Whether because he just watched me beat up two adults or because he escaped said beating was unknown. "Nice job, Elle."

"As expected from Ella-sama," Freed said, happily.

"Don't expect too much from me, Freed," I told him, pulling him into the hug. "I'm still young, and there are plenty of people out there that are stronger than me. I just know when to pick and choose my battles. That's how I come out victorious in the end."

 _What? What the hell are you talking about? If you knew how to pick your battles you wouldn't have just fought Macao and Wakaba!_

 _Ahhh,shut up, I'm trying to sound cool!_

"Is that why you only took the other kids with you when you saved me?" Levy asked.

I nodded. "Definitely. Macao and Wakaba gave me much more of a workout; I barely used any magic at all during the fight with the bandits."

"Elle?" Macao asked. "Could you get us out of here, please?"

"I could," I said. _Not._ "But I'm going to wait. Take a lesson from this. Don't underestimate your opponents. Even if they are children, that doesn't mean they aren't strong. This would've been a much more even match if you gave it your all from the get go. It might've even ended as a tie."

"But we wouldn't win?" Wakaba asked.

I smiled at him. "I've got more than a few tricks up my sleeve, and it's the first time you've ever seen me fight. I would have ended up blindsiding you eventually, and I would've won when I've taken you by surprise."

And by 'tricks up my sleeve' I meant 'teleport to their sides and kick them in the nuts'.

I mean, it works.

And, as I said before, I was exhausted. The REAL reason I wasn't getting them out of the ground was because I probably didn't have any strength for another spell. I got as far as I did through a mix of bluffs, their own underestimation and lack of knowledge, and a lot of luck.

Macao sighed. "I have to ask…what about the other kids?"

I smiled. "The other kids? It's simple. Laxus could beat you both, and if Juvia and Cana teamed up they probably could too. Levy and Freed, after they get to know each other and practice their magic more, will work well together too, and could probably beat you. But not for a while."

Juvia and Cana could probably use water and _Summon Lightning_ for a powerful combination, and if Laxus used _Lightning Dragon's Iron Fist_ , he could probably knock them out extremely quickly.

I honestly don't know why he was so scared of me, but it was probably a good thing, with how crazy the guild gets in the future. I'd need all the help I could get in controlling them.

We went inside to continue our training, leaving Macao and Wakaba stuck in the ground.

* * *

 **Okay, a few things.**

 **One, I'm sure I'll probably get some protesters about Elle at this point, but she mostly won this battle out of bluffs. She knows that she's not that strong, and this was just an example of her mouth getting away from her, plus a lot of luck.**

 **Also, this chapter (and the next) is here because I got so many lovely reviews (I love you all!). I also got a review with some constructive-criticism, and because of that added a scene at the end of Chapter Three, and halfway through Chapter Thirteen, if you want to check it out.**


	16. Freed, Part Three

**I posted two chapters today; make sure you've read the previous chapter.**

* * *

 **Chapter Sixteen - Freed, Part Three**

As we got back to the training room, (grabbing some food on the way, for me) Juvia turned to me. "Onee-sama, what about Levy-san's treasure?"

I blinked in surprise. "Oh, I'm sorry Levy! I wanted to keep it in my requip space so I could make it bigger, but I guess I just forgot about it. Let's go through it now, and then anything none of us want, we'll give to the rest of the guild, alright?"

There were some keys, too.

Levy nodded. "Yeah, that's fine."

 _Keep talking keep talking I don't think I have the energy right now to requip all that shit._

"Let me finish my sandwich first," I said, very slowly eating a sandwich.

After realizing it was probably going to take a while, Freed turned to Levy. "I hear you like to read?"

"Yep, I love to read!" Levy said eagerly.

Finishing my sandwich, I excused myself and went to the bathroom, taking my time.

Eventually, I realized I couldn't stall anymore and left for the training room.

"Okay, guys, I'm back!" I said. "You ready to go through the treasure!"

"Yay!" Juvia shouted.

I emptied out Levy's section of my requip space, keeping it separate from Freed's. Freed looked at the pile in awe. "You held all of this, _and_ packed my things as well?"

Damn it, this was supposed to happen to _Laxus_.

"Yes," I said. "So, Levy, I'm assuming you already have Gale-force reading glasses and a light pen?"

She nodded.

"Alright," I said, "If you guys don't have one, grab some. Anything left over, we could donate to the guild library."

Juvia took a pair of the glasses and Cana took a light pen. Laxus and Freed didn't take anything, and I had one of each at home already.

I moved those to the side, and pulled out the ColorS. "This changes the color of your clothes. Anyone want one?"

All the girls grabbed one, and I took one as well. The boys, once again, did not take anything.

The next thing I grabbed was a box of magical headphones. "Anyone want one of these?"

Laxus immediately raised his hand, and grabbed the pair of SoundPods excitedly. Cana and I took one as well.

The next bag I opened up held packs of blank cards. I passed them to Cana. "You can have others incorporate their magic into it, so you can have more attacks."

She looked at them before handing one to Freed. "Can you put one on there that would allow me to put down barrier runes, without me actually having to write them?"

He nodded. "It would only be standard, but by drawing this card in the area you want the runes, they should appear."

She beamed. "Awesome."

I pulled out the next bag. "I've got magical instruments here. Anyone interested in learning anything?"

"Hmm…" Juvia said. "Could Onee-sama hold onto them for awhile?"

I smiled. "Sure. That being said," I separated the violin (and anything needed for it) and requipped it separately. "…I've always wanted to learn the violin."

 _Dammit, Elle, stop requipping so much things, you're going to give yourself magical exhaustion you idiot!_

I pulled over the next bag. "Next are weapons." Looking through it, I grabbed specific things.

"Here," I said, handing a small dagger to Freed. "It says that you can program it with specific runic spells, to make it easier to cast. You ought to have some defensive spells put into it, so that way you can still fight if they take your sword."

He nodded. "Thank you Ella-sama."

"Cana," I said, pushing a bag over to her. "Those are full of throwing stars and _throwing cards_. Even if you don't want spells on them to use in battle, I want you to practice throwing them, because it should still help with your aiming for your card magic."

She nodded.

"There are some basic magic-restraining cuffs in here," I said. "That are mostly used to help people with excessive magic control their strength. It pulls extra power into empty lacrima gems. I don't think any of us need this just yet, but I think I might have use for these in the future, so I'm gonna hold onto these pairs."

In total, there were nine handcuffs.

And by 'use in the future' I meant 'Natsu Dragneel'.

I moved onto the longer weapons. "Does anyone have use for magical swords?"

They all shook their heads.

"Well, if you don't mind Levy, I'd like to keep them in my requip space for defense."

She nodded.

I pulled the last bag over. "Levy, these are your books. Look them over; if there are any you don't want, hand them back, okay?"

"Alright," I said. "Why don't you guys practice with your new things? I need to talk to Master."

I popped up to Makarov's office ( _dammit Elle stop using magic!_ ) where he jumped. "Dammit Elle, what did I tell you about doing that?"

I shrugged. "If you pay Freed 4,000 J, he'll ward the room for you." $80 seems fair, right?

"That's the new member?" he asked.

I nodded. "Do we have a place for boys to stay? I mean, the girls have Fairy Hills, but what about boys?"

He sighed. "I've been thinking about building a place for them, but I'm not quite sure where."

I shrugged. "Put it at the bottom of the hill. And call it Fairy Valleys or something."

 _That's a stupid name, Elle._

 _'Fairy Hills' is stupid, too._

 _No it isn't. It sounds nice._

He shrugged. "That could work, but I have no place for him to stay right now, unless Laxus will share."

I laughed, picturing the look on Laxus's face. "Nah, it's fine. He can stay with me for now. But I want that place built soon."

He nodded. "Understood."

I popped back downstairs.

 _Ahhh, just fucking walk!_

"Hey guys, so Freed, you'll be staying with me until Fairy Valleys is inhabitable."

"What's that mean, Onee-sama?" Juvia asked.

"Livable," Levy said. "You know, safe to live in."

Juvia nodded. "Thank you Levy-san."

"Also, Freed, I told Master that you would ward his office for 4,000 J, so don't be surprised if he asks. Also, he might ask you to do his house as well."

Freed nodded.

"Hey, Elle-nee-chan?" Cana asked as she threw another shiruken at a target. "Are you gonna practice with your sword?"

I shrugged. "That depends." I turned to look at Freed. "Do you actually know how to use a sword? Don't worry, I have a spare you can use for actual fighting, but do you know any of it?"

He shook his head. "I was taught a bit of fencing, but not really."

"Hmm," I muttered. "Then maybe another time…"

Yeah, I'll probably need a teacher. Maybe I'll ask Makarov at some point…

But for now, we had work to do.

* * *

Later that day, Freed and I walked home.

"Why are we walking?" Freed asked.

 _Because I don't have any magic to teleport us home._

"In case I'm not there, I don't want you to get lost if you go to the guild by yourself."

He nodded.

We entered and I showed him the guest bedroom, requipping out a few of his clothes and pajamas. "Is there anything else you want specifically?" I asked him. "I don't want to empty all of this out of my space just yet, I don't really have a place to put it."

 _And I don't want to use more magic, much less requip your giant-ass bed._

"This is fine, for now," he said. "Maybe the books I grabbed from my family library, if it's not too much trouble."

Nodding, I requipped the books he grabbed from there, and handed them to him, before smiling at him and saying, "Goodnight. I'll be sleeping soon. If you would like to read, that is fine, but make sure not to make too much noise. I generally go to the guild at around ten, so try to get enough sleep."

He nodded. After the long day he had, plus the training, a large dinner at the guild, and the walk back to my house, I wouldn't be surprised if he was tired.

Right before I closed the door I told him the same thing I had told Laxus. "I know that it's a bit of a temptation, but please don't go through the room with the closed door. That is my private study. If you want a book from there, I have a list you could look through, and I can get it for you, but I'd like that to remain private, please."

He nodded. "Goodnight, Ella-sama."

I smiled. "Goodnight, Freed."

I went to my study and requipped the keys to check them.

I flipped open the book and matched the symbols.

 _Musca, the fly. Known for spying magic._

Well, that seems handy.

 _Chamaeleon, the chameleon. Known for invisibility magic._

Cool.

 _Pictor, the easel. Known for Picto Magic._

Hmm…that's what Reedus uses, right?

And the last one was _Caelum, the chisel. Known for offensive/transformation magic for weapons._

 _Nice_ …I thought to myself. It's only been a few months, and already I've gotten a few members of the guild training earlier, and a few more weapons and techniques for some in particular.

I requipped the keys, left the room, and stumbled across the hall to mine. Slowly, I brushed my teeth in the bathroom before collapsing into bed.

I was exhausted.


	17. Gildarts, Part One

**I promise this was an accident.**

* * *

 **Chapter Seventeen - Gildarts, Part One**

When I got to the guild, I overheard Macao talking to Wakaba about Gildarts coming back in four months, which would have him appearing smack dab in the middle of November.

Smiling, I ran inside straight for the training room, Freed trailing behind me.

"Ella-sama?" he asked as we entered the room. "Who is Gildarts?"

"He's awesome!" Laxus said enthusiastically. "Probably the most powerful wizard in Fairy Tail."

"He's also extremely destructive," Cana added.

"He's Cana's father," I said casually.

There was a pause. Then…

"WHAT?" Cana shrieked. "Elle, I kept that a secret for a reason!"

"Yeah, a stupid reason," I said, snorting. "Look, you know how I sorta know some things, right?"

"Oh, really?" Cana asked sarcastically. "Like how you mysteriously know things about the future or people that you have _literally no way of finding out, ever_? No, I haven't noticed."

Geez, six-year-old Cana was one with the sass.

Probably my fault.

"Look, Cana, I _know_ things," I told her. "So trust me when I say that Gildarts will be overjoyed to find out he has a daughter."

"Really?" she whispered, doubtful.

"Of course," I said, holding out my arms. She rushed into them. "It's up to the two of you what your relationship will be, and I doubt it will be conventional. But this is Fairy Tail. Whoever called us conventional in the first place is an idiot."

"I don't think anyone has ever called us that," Laxus said.

I rolled my eyes. "The point is, Cana, is that he'll want to know, and he'll want to know as soon as he has a chance."

"Thank you, Elle-nee-chan. I…after I started learning magic…and after what you said about me being powerful…I wanted to prove I was strong."

 _That's right_ , I thought. _She doesn't become obsessed with the S-Class thing until she's nominated._

"Well, if you want to prove you're strong, I have an idea," I said, smiling down at her. "Why don't we fight him?"

Everyone froze. "WHAAAAAAAAT?"

 _Wait, what did I just say?_

"I said we're going to fight him!" I yelled.

 _Oh, fuck._

"Ella-sama," Freed said. "You mentioned that you pick and choose your battles based on what you believe the outcome is. Does that mean you think we can win?"

I snorted. "Oh, hell no, we're definitely going to lose."

If he fights seriously. But he'll underestimate us because we're kids, and if we use enough unconventional fighting methods, we might be able to catch him by surprise.

You know, maybe.

I mean, we may need to cheat a bit.

"Then why would we fight against Gildarts!" Laxus shouted.

"Because it would be fun!" I whined.

"He'll kill us!" Laxus yelled. "And worse, it'll be an accident!"

I shook my head. "Even if he overpowers one of his spells, it won't kill us, it will just break us down into a bunch of tiny people. It's not like he can't put us back together. It will be fine, it will be fun, and I think we stand a chance if we work together and catch him by surprise."

"I'm in!" Cana said.

"If Onee-sama is doing it, so will Juvia!" Juvia said.

"Umm," Levy said. "I don't think I'm ready."

"That's fine," I told her. "You don't have to participate if you don't want to. On the other hand, you can also spend the next four months training. Everyone else in the guild will be busy building the place for the boys to live, so we've got time until then. Also, your magic is all about creativity, Levy. Use your mind! Whatever you write becomes reality. You could probably make things like _Solid Script; Slow-Mo_ and make him move super slow. And other things like that."

Levy brightened. "I wouldn't mind practicing that."

I turned to Freed. "Do you have any runes that can make people invisible? We can write them into cloaks and surprise him that way."

He paused to think. "I might have an idea. If you'll excuse me, I need to go to the guild library."

"Sure, have fun!" I told him as he left the room.

Turning to Laxus, I stared at him until he threw his arms up in the air. "Fine, I'll join you! But you owe me!"

"Sure!" I said. "Your birthday is coming up soon, right? I'll take you somewhere fun! There will be an island. And treasure."

At least his birthday was at the end of November.

I think.

"Alright everyone. Let's get to training. We'll start with new spells. Cana, come with me, and we'll discuss new attacks. Laxus, I want you to try turning your body into Lightning. Juvia, I want you to work on the pressure and strength in your attacks like _Water Slicer_. Levy, I want you to come up with a list of ways and techniques to utilize your magic in battle. Everyone got that?"

They all nodded except for Laxus, who instead yelled, " _What_? You want me to do _what_?"

"I want you to turn your body into lightning," I said patiently. "No, I'm not joking, yes it is possible, and yes, it will be possible for _you_ to do it. You can probably teleport like I can, too. Speaking of which, Juvia, at some point (though not right now) I would like you to try turning your body into mist. However, I would work on your offense right now, because your defense is already pretty solid with your water body."

She nodded. "Right. Juvia understands."

Juvia asked Levy to make a _Solid Script; Iron_ , telling her that she's going to practice being able to cut through it, and Laxus sighed and stared at his hand as he enveloped it with his lightning.

Cana and I sat down and she pulled out some paper. "You think I can have more attacks?"

I nodded. "How is your multi-directional _Summon Lightning_ coming along?"

She smiled. "Really well, but I kinda need a test subject."

"How about Laxus?" I asked.

"The hell are you volunteering me for, Elle?" Laxus shouted.

"Dinner!" I shouted back.

A pause. "What?"

I rolled my eyes. "Again, what happened to the trusting me, thing? Cana wants to practice her _Summon Lightning_ , and since it can't hurt you (plus you can eat it), I figured you could help test it out."

"Oh. Alright then."

I smiled, turning back to Cana. "We can try it later. For now, let's come up with more ideas. I want you to have some sort of card that utilizes Mirror Magic."

"Mirror Magic?" she asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, it can reflect attacks. Some would be easier than others. For instance, reflecting a lightning attack could probably go a lot better than a solid type of attack, like one of mine, especially if there was a lot of power behind it. But if you put enough force into your spell, you could probably even block spells of a really high caliber. If you practice hard enough, you might be able to block Gildarts."

"But how would we test it?" Cana asked.

"You would activate the card away from you, and then Laxus will try to break through. If he breaks through, you need more power. If not…you should probably add more power anyway, but that's a good sign."

She nodded.

"I was also thinking about a card that utilizes Sleep Magic," I said. "If we can get those on Gildarts, we could easily win the fight, though I'm not sure if we'd actually be able to create a powerful enough sleeping spell for him. Honestly, if we really wanted to win the fight we could always put a rune barrier down that stopped him from using magic on the training field, but that would ruin the fun. As long as you're smart enough, Cana, you can almost always beat your opponent. Remember, sometimes brain is better than brawn."

She nodded. "Got it. So if we put that in comparison to things that you said earlier for Levy, I could probably do a lot of support magic."

I smiled. Now we're talking. "Such as…"

Cana was getting really excited now. "Oh, maybe I could do something that could make us move faster, or make us stronger. Hmm, but it'd need to find something as a common factor…"

"Well, for future fights, it would be really handy if we could make anyone with a guild mark stronger, but right now this wouldn't be good for a fight with Gildarts," I said. "Maybe something that can single-out our age? I'm pretty sure all of our bodies identify as being non-adults, if not specifically _children_ , and that might be able to work."

She frowned. "Maybe…"

"Well, what other ways could you add support spells?" I asked her.

"Well, I can make us faster and stronger, thought I don't think we could physically match up to Gildarts despite how strong I make us. Magically powerful might help, but it'd need an amplifier…"

"Normally I'd say the sun, but it might not work if it's a cloudy day. How about air? There's plenty of Ethernano in the air, and it would certainly help spread the power, unless you directly linked us to cards."

"Directly…linked…" she smiled. "Elle, you're a genius!"

"Thank you, but if you would specify…"

"Okay, so meditating is gathering our power, expanding it, but also emptying it, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Emptying our magical containers help stretch our energy. Why?"

"Well, if we empty our magic power each day directly into a card, and then hold onto the card, then we have extra power in case we run out!"

"Is that even possible?" Laxus asked.

"Probably," I said.

"Elle-chan, would it still work if it's kept in your requip space? That way the cards won't be destroyed," Levy asked.

"We can test it," Cana said.

"This is brilliant," I said. "Doing this should expand our containers, and then if we try to take in some of the extra energy back into our body, that would probably expand our containers more, too! Also, we're recycling! Instead of magic just dissipating into the air, we're able to use it again."

"So what's the plan?" Cana asked.

"Well, we still have four months before Gildarts gets here. That's enough time to experiment on how this would work. We'll practice our magic at the beginning of each day, work hard, and then at the end of the day, empty our magic into the cards. At the beginning of the next day, we'll take in a little bit of the magic from our cards; not a whole lot, maybe a quarter at most, and expand our containers a bit. Then we'll repeat the cycle again, practicing our magic until later the next evening."

"Awesome!" Levy said.

"Another thing, though," I said. "I don't know if it will work if your cards are in _my_ requip. You may need to keep them on you. However…"

I turned to Cana. "I've been meaning to tell you that I want you to learn requip. Not for everything, but it'd be a nice place to store your cards, and you'd also have extra. You can store your space however you want, and it should become really easy for you to use it in a fight."

She thought about it. "Maybe…I'll start later today."

I requipped a book on requipping. "I suggest you read this tonight, maybe practice storing a blank card or two and pulling it back out."

She nodded. "Alright, I'll try."

"Your space will probably start small, but it'll get bigger. Trust me," I told her.

I'm going to give this book to Lucy the next time I see her. That way, she won't be losing her keys all the time.

* * *

After that, I left Cana to focus on making the magical storage cards, and went over the spells Levy came up with. All of them were good, but some of them were brilliant. She had starred the ones in particular that she thought she'd be able to use against Gildarts, but she had also thought of some other ones that she could use in regular battle.

I told her to add the most ridiculous things she could think of to the list, and then start practicing, before I went over to Juvia, who was trying to make her _Water Slicer_ strong enough to slice the IRON Levy made in half. So far, it only had some big dents and some scratches.

"Juvia," I said, kneeling down at her. "I want you to get angry."

"How would Juvia do that?" she asked.

I pointed at the IRON. "Do you see that? That's actually a dark mage that's come here because he wants to kill me, and destroy Fairy Tail."

Even though it was only a piece of iron, her temper immediately flared and she shouted, " _Water Slicer_!" directly at it.

It cleanly sliced it in half.

"Woah," Juvia said softly.

"Listen," I said, taking hold of her arms. "Magic is fueled by emotions. I don't want you to feel angry every time you cast magic, but you felt it bubble up when you got angry, right?"

She nodded.

"It was a lot stronger than it normally is if you're angry because you were feeling protective. Thank you, by the way." I squeezed her shoulders. "What you felt is the amount of power you currently possess. It's not the amount of power you'll end up with eventually, it's _how much you have right now_. That being said, you've only been grabbing the surface of it when you've cast your spells. Now that you've felt it all, I want you to grab it, and cast the spell again."

She nodded, took a deep breath, and turned back towards what was left of the iron. " _Water Slicer_!" It cleanly sliced through it again, leaving it a quarter of the original size.

"Wow," Juvia whispered.

I squeezed her shoulders. "What did I tell you? Now, I want you to try pushing it around inside of you, now that you've got a better grasp on it."

She nodded and began to meditate, and I moved on to Laxus, who glared at me angrily. "Are you _sure_ I can turn into lightning?"

"Positive," I said. "Don't take your anger out on me. So you didn't learn it today, so what? You're not going to learn everything in a day, and that's _alright_ , Laxus. Sometimes we need to work harder for certain spells, and that's expected. Hell, you've only got the beginnings of your Dragon Slayer magic down. You haven't even touched your Secret Art."

"Secret Art?" he asked.

I nodded. "It's different for each slayer. While each slayer may have their own variation of a roar, wing attack, talon, and iron fist, they all have specialized Secret Arts, and there are usually more than one."

Technically, Wendy's _Milky Way_ was a secret art, so I'm sure that all of the other slayers had more than one as well.

"But it can also take years to unlock it," I continued. "And that's okay. Sometimes things come easily and sometimes we have to work for it. So work. You'll get it eventually, we both know you will. And while it would help in a fight with Gildarts, it's certainly not going to make or break it. So relax." I smiled at him softly. "You think your Gramps got as strong as he did in a day? Or that all my Earth Spells immediately came to me? I still have trouble with some, and I don't have much stamina when it comes to using them, either, since they take up a lot of power. We have four months. So breathe."

Laxus took in a deep breath and breathed out, the tension leaving his shoulders.

"You're only eleven, Laxus," I said. "You're already a lot stronger than any kids your age could hope to be. So for now, breathe, and try to relax. Imagine your body turning into lightning, all at once. It's not physical anymore. You're like a ghost."

He gave me that look, (the ' _dammit Elle'_ look) but took a deep breath and concentrated on himself.

Slowly, his body began to spark, and for a second I thought that he wasn't exactly physical anymore, before it was gone.

"Good job!" I told him. "It might have only been a second, but I think you grabbed hold of it. Now that you know how it feels, you just need to practice more, and hold onto it."

He made a face. "I didn't like how it felt."

I gave him a blank look. "If you're in a life or death battle, and you need to move and that's your only option, are you really going to sit there and die?"

He glared at me. "Fine, I see your point, it just feels _weird_ …"

He sighed and closed his eyes. I left them in the room and went up to the guild library, where I found Freed reading. He looked up from the book when he heard me coming.

"Ella-sama!" he said. "I believe I found what we're looking for. I also found something else, called _Dark Ecriture_ , and it sounds really interesting."

I sighed. I didn't really want him using _Dark Ecriture_ ; I didn't like it. "Freed, you can learn _Dark Ecriture,_ but promise me that you'll only use it against enemies to deserve it. If you want to stop somebody, you can always write runes like _Freeze_ , or something. Don't actively hurt your opponent."

"Unless they deserve it?" he asked.

I nodded. "Unless they deserve it. If they're attacking Fairy Tail, that's one thing, but if it's a friendly competition, _absolutely not_. Do you understand?"

He nodded, though he looked a bit downtrodden. "I kind of just want to say something cooler when I'm fighting though, other than _Rune-Write_."

I rolled my eyes. Geez, boys will be boys, no matter how dignified they were raised or how old they are.

"But thank you for letting me learn it. It will allow me to write runes without my sword. However, it will take me some time to learn it."

"That's fine," I said. "For now, focus on learning your runes. You can learn _Dark Ecriture_ at some point in the future."

"Anyway, I do believe I found what you wanted. You were thinking about inscribing runes on clothing, yes?"

"Mmmmhmmm," I said. "What about it?"

"It's possible," he said. "But it'd be easier to just inscribe it on a bracelet or something that we were all wearing. If we want it on cloth we need to sow it in, and I never learned how to sow."

I nodded. "Alright. I think there's some magical bracelets we can inscribe stuff on that I found at an archeological site. I'll show you them tonight. Oh, and did you ward Makarov's office yet?"

He shook his head. "No, he hasn't asked me yet."

I smirked. "Perfect."

I popped into Makarov's office.

"Ahhhh! Elle!" he shouted. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"No."

"That was a rhetorical question," he said.

"I wanted to know if there's a place in the basement or the attic that was free," I said.

"Why?" Makarov asked.

"I want to start practicing Pluto, and I can't do that until I've found the right place to train. Nowhere around my home suits the atmosphere, and it's not doing anything for me."

He sighed. "Fine. There's an office in the basement. It looks old and medieval. Is that good enough?"

"Are there stone walls and torches?"

"Yes."

"Perfect."

He led me down to the basement, leading me past the Lumen Histoire and into an office. I sat cross legged on the floor and started meditating. "Close the door behind you please."

I didn't hear a reply, but I heard the sound of the door shut and footsteps going back up the stairs.

I opened my eyes and took a good look at the room, and the shadows caused by the torches. Slowly, I leaned back into a shadow and meditated.

Honestly, I wasn't going to attack him with Pluto magic – there was only one I needed to learn before the fight.

 _Pluto's Body_.

It turns your body into a shadow, which was something I could use for defense.

* * *

I spent the whole day meditating down there, before I went back upstairs, ate dinner with the others, and then walked home with Freed.

As two weeks passed, everyone grew noticeably stronger, through both our recycled magic and our regular magic.

Recycled magic doesn't work as well; it's not as strong as it was originally, and it runs out a lot faster.

That being said, if you aren't constantly fighting and have time to store extra magic while meditating, it works fine.

We discovered a few surprises with Juvia, and Levy came up with a whole slew of extremely odd surprise attacks that I couldn't wait for us to use on Gildarts (or anyone, really).

We would spend two hours meditating/charging cards before eating a snack, another hour fighting out magic against each other, sometimes as teams so we could see how we worked together.

Usually, in a one on one battle between me and Laxus, neither would win, and we'd both end up completely exhausted.

If I fought alone against Cana and Juvia, however, I lost every time.

I feel extremely proud just thinking about it.

Despite it all, and the amount of time that passed, I still hadn't gotten ahold of _Pluto's Body_.

The latter half of the day, after lunch, was usually a mix of magic battles, just plain exercise (so we could practice moving faster) and for me; meditating in that damn basement.

I was getting sick of seeing shadows.

Freed's birthday passed, and he turned eight.

Cana helped me make 'alert' cards for anyone who would eventually join the guild (well, anyone that didn't have a specific time ready), which allowed me to know if they needed help or their magic activated.

All in all, we were more prepared, and getting stronger.

But after a month of trying, I still hadn't gotten it down.

* * *

The next time, instead of the usual position with my legs crossed (Criss-Cross-Applesauce) I laid directly on the floor and thought specifically of Rogue. Some way through, I think I fell asleep.

When I woke up, I was halfway through the floor.

"Holy shit," I breathed.

I could shadow travel. That's _awesome_.

Concentrating on surrounding my body with magic, I pulled myself into the shadows and tried following them upstairs.

Unfortunately, I couldn't hold it very long, so the spell ended and I hit the floor.

"Ow…" I muttered, rubbing my butt.

But I'd gotten ahold of it (fucking _finally_ ), which was good.

I spent the rest of the day practicing with my shadow body, jumping from shadow to shadow and moving through them. It was the oddest feeling; as if I was made of mist.

Hours later, I was exhausted, and slowly trudged my way upstairs.

"Hey guys," I muttered, walking into the training room. Freed was reading a book, Juvia was breaking another piece of IRON, Cana and Levy were discussing something, and Laxus appeared to be meditating.

"Are you okay, Elle-chan?" Levy asked. "You don't look well."

Everyone turned to look at me. I smiled at them and waved them off. "Nah, I'm just tired. Freed, can you make your way home?"

He nodded.

"Good," I said. "I'm gonna teleport home. Goodnight, everyone."

I popped out with rings of 'goodbye' in my ears.

After a quick shower and a bite to eat, I climbed into bed and passed out.

* * *

 **Yeah...I'm open to suggestions.**

 **Like _any. Any at all._**


	18. Gildarts, Part Two

**Guys, when I meant suggestions, I mean for the fight, not the story. :3. I have the story planned out until the Tenrou arc, so I think I'm covered on that end.**

 **To** **the lovely guest who suggested One Word To Change The World, yes, I have read that, and it's one of a group of stories which inspired/made me write this because I kept thinking (but I'd do this instead...).**

 **I was going to list all the stories at the end (because most of them are incomplete, and I was hoping they'd be updated by then).**

 **One** **Word To Change The World is funny, and sad as hell. Just a warning; I sobbed my eyes out completely.**

 **As** **for the fight, I said 'fuck it' and left it up to the flip of two coins.**

 **Two** **, because my brother said I couldn't toss a coin, and then he got the same fucking result.** **Enjoy.**

 **Also, yay, two chapters for you guys!**

* * *

 **Chapter** **Eighteen - Gildarts, Part Two**

Nine days later, the bells began ringing and the ground began shaking.

I didn't recognize it, but there was only one thing it could be; the Gildarts Shift.

"Are you guys ready?" I asked them. "Get into positions!"

Juvia nodded determinedly, and though Levy looked scared, she also looked a bit excited. Laxus was giving me a look that screamed, _Why Elle? Why would you do this to us?_ , and I could tell he was worried. Freed looked confident, double checking the barriers on the ground so he was sure that they would stay locked in – Gildarts wouldn't be able to leave until he fought us and someone won.

Cana looked the most nervous of all. I put a hand on her shoulder. "Stop worrying. What did I tell you? It'll be fine!"

She nodded, and hugged me. "It'll be fine," she repeated to herself. "It'll be fine."

She moved to the front of the guild and we stayed on the field, activating the invisibility runes on our bracelets.

"Come on, Gildarts, I have something I want to show you!"

"Cana, I'm-"

"Please? It's important!"

We smiled as we heard Gildarts sigh. Since our bracelets were connected, we could still see each other.

"Alright, I'm coming!" he sighed, and was right behind Cana when the door slammed open. Following behind them was a large majority of the guild, also interested in whatever this 'important thing' was. Also, Gildarts was back, so everyone wanted to spend time with him.

Macao, Wakaba, Enno, and Makarov were at the forefront. Makarov was looking at us and smirked.

I winked at him.

It wasn't really that surprising that he alone could see us.

"Come on!" Cana said, leading Gildarts onto the field. I smirked as they passed the rune line.

"What am I looking at?" Gildarts asked, leaning forward. Cana moved behind him and activated her invisibility rune when he wasn't looking.

"Cana?" he asked, turning around and searching for her.

The sound of giggles permeated the air. Cana and I were the loudest, but Juvia and Levy joined in soon enough.

"Where the hell did she go?" he asked the guild.

"She just vanished," Macao said. "We should all go back inside before something horrible happens."

"Yeah," Wakaba said. "Elle's probably up to something."

I started snickering at that.

"Yep, we should go inside," Enno said.

"Alright," Gildarts said, stepping forward and slamming into the rune wall. "What the-"

"It's simple," I said. My voice echoed in the air. "You aren't allowed to leave the battlefield until you fight us and one side is declared the winner."

"Elle, you're insane!" Macao yelled.

Wakaba's pipe fell out of his mouth.

"Well, um…Elle, is it?" Gildarts asked. "You sound very young, and I don't want to fight a kid…"

"I'm nine years old," I told him. "And I'm not the only one here. You're fighting the entirety of Fairy Tail's newest generation."

"Elle, are you sure about this?" Makarov asked.

"Yep," I said. "I'm positive. We'll be fine, Master."

"Yeah, Jiji," Laxus said. "I trust Elle. Even if she is insane."

Gildarts looked around. "Laxus, is that you?"

"Yep," he said.

"Elle, when you say the newest generation, do you mean all six of you?" Macao asked.

"You got it!" I smirked, though he didn't see it. "I decided to upgrade to a stronger opponent when I easily kicked your and Wakaba's asses."

 _My fucking mouth..._

"You both fought a nine year old and she won?" Gildarts asked.

"Honestly, this fight could go either way," Makarov said. "Who would like to bet?"

"You're serious?" Gildarts asked.

"They aren't kids, they're monsters," Wakaba said.

"Well, Levy is sweet," Macao said.

"Thank you, Macao-kun!" Levy shouted.

"Yeah, but Elle is evil, and she's like their leader or something," Wakaba retorted.

I cackled evilly. "Thank you for the compliment!"

Though they didn't know it, the rune wall had slowly been draining some of Gildarts power since he entered. Usually, Rune Walls can stay on their own, and are supported with the magic in the air. This one instead enhances it's own strength by taking some of Gildarts power.

He either doesn't know about Rune Walls, or he's doing it on purpose so he can go easy on us.

Gildarts turned back to Makarov, who was busy writing out the bets on the fight. "Are you really going to make me do this?" he asked.

"Yes," Makarov said.

"Onee-sama, why are they betting on us?" Juvia said.

"Because we scare them," I answered.

"But you said we would lose," she said sweetly.

"What?" Enno shouted. "Ellie-girl, why would you do this then?"

"Because it's fun, and it's good for us. This will help us get stronger. Look, I may act arrogant about a lot of things, but I know when I'm gonna win or lose. And besides. Sometimes you need to fight, even if you can't win."

"Good answer, Elle," Makarov said.

"As expected of Ella-sama," Freed said.

"Hey, Elle-nee-chan, are we gonna fight yet?" Cana complained.

 _They're doing that on purpose,_ I thought.

"Well, you weren't kidding when you said that she was their leader," Gildarts muttered. "Can I at least know your magics before we fight?"

"No," I said. "Besides, you already know Cana and Laxus's magic."

"All the bets are in!" Makarov announced.

"Here we go," I said quietly to the others. They nodded. Cana squeezed my hand.

"Ready…set…begin!" Makarov yelled.

Laxus started us off. " _Lightning Dragon Roar!_ " A blast of electricity went storming for Gildarts. He dispelled it with his crash magic, but his eyes were widened.

"Oops," I said. "Alright, so maybe you _don't_ know Laxus's magic."

"Since when were you a _dragon slayer_?" Gildarts asked.

"It's been over a year or so," Laxus said.

Gildarts hadn't seen the beginning of another spell. " _Summon Lightning; Aerial Attack_."

Bursts of lightning came from all direction and struck him, shaking him violently before he used his crash magic to break the cards.

Cana was wide-eyed, and looked extremely proud of herself for affecting him.

"What the hell was that?" he asked, still frazzled.

"Cana's newest spell," I smirked.

"Damn, kid, that certainly packs a punch," he said.

Cana's smile grew.

Juvia went next. We had agreed to attack him individually at first, and then all at once. This was more than just a fight for us; it was a demonstration of our strength.

" _Water Lock_!" Juvia yelled, ensnaring Gildarts in her sphere of water. Gildarts tried to break through it, but was unable to because it was liquid. He frantically searched for us (hoping to take down the caster) but he was unable to see us.

Honestly, I was extremely surprised at what he did next, though he probably didn't have a lot of options...

He used his Crash Magic on himself, and he split into a bunch of tiny Gildarts. One of them escaped the Water Lock and he reformed himself outside.

"That's the first time I had to do that," he said.

Levy and Freed were going to work together, since they were still new.

Since he was still learning and was not allowed to use _Dark Ecriture_ , Freed had to use the original spell, " _Rune-Write; Freeze_." Levy followed up with a, " _Solid Script; Explosion."_

A huge explosion went flying to Gildarts, who couldn't move and had to take the hit.

Of course, it was Gildarts, who was extremely durable, but we got a few scratches on him.

My turn. " _Earth's Green Fist_!" The fist shot out of the ground and Gildarts tried to stop the spell by using his crash magic. As the fist fell apart, I reinforced it, and it came back together and smacked Gildarts before he could dispel it again.

All of us had done one of our most powerful attacks.

At the end of it, Gildarts clothes were pretty messed up, but he was fine, though with a few scratches. He pulled himself off the ground, and he was smiling.

"Alright," he said. "You kids are pretty tough. That being said…why don't we introduce ourselves properly?"

He sent out a wave of crash magic that, surprisingly, didn't affect us. Instead, it cracked through the runes on our bracelets, rendering them useless and making us visible again.

"If you would?" he asked.

I stepped forward first. "My name is Eleanor Rigby. I tend to go by Elle, though people have been known to give me variations of my name. As I said before, I'm nine."

Juvia gave a quick bow. "Juvia is Juvia Lockser. Juvia is five."

Levy smiled. "Levy McGarden, and I'm five!"

"I am Freed Justine, and I am two years younger than Ella-sama," Freed said proudly.

I sweatdropped. "Freed, you're eight."

"I was born in X764. You were born-"

"In X763," I deadpanned. "In May. We're a year and several months apart. Just because you were two years younger when we met doesn't mean I automatically turned ten when you turned eight. I _literally_ just said I was nine."

Freed blushed.

"Alright, let's get started," Gildarts said, smiling. He waved his hand casually. " _Crush_."

A wave of crash magic came towards us. Laxus turned to Lightning, Juvia used her water body, and I used _Earth Rock Shield_ to take the blast for me, Cana, Levy, and Freed.

He looked surprised that we were all still standing.

I smirked. "Number 3, go!"

We split up and ran. I had come up with 6 attack plans for Gildarts, and depending on the situation, I would call them out. In these variations, we would usually break off into groups, though I always had Levy with Freed, even on one where we all went solo.

Number 3 had Me and Cana, Laxus and Juvia, and Levy and Freed in group off to the side.

" _Melting Earth!_ " I shouted, plunging my fist into the ground.

" _Cards Volley!_ " Cana yelled, throwing a group of cards into the air which shot out a series of explosive blasts.

The ground under Gildarts turned into liquid and Cana's explosive blasts came right at him. He went to block, but before he could cast a spell, Juvia shot a _Water Whip_ at his hand.

" _Solid Script; Geyser!_ " Levy shouted, casting it at Gildarts feet.

" _Rune-Write; Enhanced Explosion!"_ Freed cast, causing the geyser to explode and fling Gildarts into the air as Laxus shouted " _Lightning Dragon Breakdown Fist!"_ The lightning mixed with the water from the geyser and gave Gildarts a large electrical shock.

We waited for the steam to fade and we saw Gildarts stand. He smiled. "That's very impressive, kids. And good teamwork."

Freed was a bit frozen. "We hardly even fazed him…" he whispered.

Cana collapsed a bit beside me. "I can't…I'm not…"

"Dammit," I said before yelling. "Guys, Number 7!"

While I made 6 attacks, I also made one in case Cana froze up, because she felt small compared to her father's power. The other four would attack and I would wake Cana back up.

"Cana, listen to me," I said, ignoring the shouts of " _Water Lock_ ," and " _Solid Script; Freeze_ _Water._ " "I know what you're thinking," I said. "And it's stupid."

"But…I'm not…"

"You _are_ worthy," I told her. "Cana, you're _six years old_ and with a group of other kids, two of which are younger than you, you're still holding your own against him. You saw the damages your attack did to him. Be proud, not scared."

She stood up as Gildarts broke through a frozen sphere of water.

"Formation Number 2, go!" I shouted. While this formation was the same as Number 3, it focused on different attacks.

" _Solid Script; Blizzard!_ " Levy shouted, with Freed backing her up. " _Rune-Write; Freeze_."

Laxus and Juvia were holding hands as they resonated.

"A Unison Raid?" Macao asked.

" _Unison Raid; Electric Water!"_ A humongous magical circle formed above the two, and a blast of water attacked Gildarts, shocking him immensely.

" _Arms of the Earth_ ," I yelled, pinning him in place so he got hit by it.

" _Air Blades_!" Cana yelled, slicing him up and particularly missing the vines holding him down (something that took the two of us _hours_ to get right).

When everything finally cleared, he was still standing, though he looked like shit. "Impressive," he said. "Definitely impressive, especially for your age. You could take down most adult wizards with skill like that."

"Geez, I know he's Gildarts but this is ridiculous," Laxus said.

He sent out another wave of powerful Crash Magic, and I was too far away to block Levy and Freed.

As it came towards us, I shouted, "Number 6, everyone!"

Number 6 was the craziest plan I came up with, just because it was so ridiculous (for the most part). This one planned for him directly attacking us like this.

Freed jumped in front of Levy and sent a " _Rune-Write; Barrier_ " in front of him. Laxus and Juvia activated their powers and defensive elemental forms.

I activated _Pluto's Body_ and Cana sent out her Funhouse Cards, which was a set of cards that directly let her use the effects of a funhouse. This is what we were counting on.

Cana's mirrors reflected the attack, and sent the magic back to Gildarts, who easily dispelled it. Despite that, it surprised him, and what surprised him more was the rest of our reactions. He saw me turn into shadows, which did not connect in his head, because up until then I had only used Earth Magic. Cana's Funhouse Cards also ended up causing a type of illusion to her target; in effect, it made them drunk, or high, and ended up affecting their abilities.

I gathered my magic (and yesterdays) and took a deep breath.

" _Crack…of the Earth!_ " I screamed, and the Earth underneath Gildarts feet split in two.

Juvia went next, sending a wave rushing through the ravine that Gildarts was trying to climb back up. He fell back down, but kept trying to climb back up.

Laxus sent a current of electricity through the water, shocking him and dropping Gildarts in the ravine again. Despite that, I could tell that he wasn't done yet, and he tried climbing again.

Despite the fact that Gildarts was climbing up the sides of the ravine, most of the guild was on the ground from all the shaking, demonstrating just how powerful this spell could be.

"Levy!" I shouted.

Her face blushing the same shade as Erza's hair, she shouted out one of her newest spells. " _Solid Script; Underwear Attack!"_ A series of sexy underwear and bras exploded outward and attacked Gildarts, who started sweating and turning red.

"Finish him, Cana!" I yelled as I (still) maintained the earthquake, already burning through four magical storage cards.

She grabbed her cards and threw them at him, as he tried hanging onto the edge of the crack to pull himself onto the still shaking ground. " _Sexy Lady Card!_ "

Several extremely attractive young girls in swimsuits appeared and began to hug Gildarts and rub themselves all over him.

His face grew redder, and nose exploded in blood before he passed out.

I stopped the earthquake, and collapsed on the ground, exhausted.

I had burned through six cards, in total.

"We did it!" Cana yelled.

Well, sort of. I was counting on the nosebleed, and I had Cana imbue the girls with Sleep Magic. I had also has Freed write Runes that would enhance both the Sleep Magic and the blood loss.

And, as I mentioned before, the Rune Wall was leeching power from him.

But no one else in the guild needed to know that.

The six of us cheered as we gathered.

The rest of the guild stared in awe.

To be fair, they did just watch a bunch of children take on the strongest wizard in the guild, do a unison raid, and _create an earthquake_.

I haven't mastered it; it still takes way to much energy from me, and I only did it because of the magical battery cards Cana gave us.

But I was still able to pull it off, and it felt amazing.

Macao and Wakaba went over to Gildarts and tried to pull him out of the ground. They looked at the huge crack. "Uh, what are we gonna do about this?"

"I'll fix it when I get my energy back."

I'm glad that I wasn't strong enough for a _real_ earthquake, otherwise I would have destroyed all of Magnolia.

Though I could have used some of the extra energy to fix the damage, our containers get bigger when we let it refill naturally. After allowing so much of my own energy to run through me (like I was a magical jumper cable), it would be better (and I would get stronger) if I let it replenish on its own.

Wakaba dropped Gildarts's prone form on the ground. "Could someone explain what just happened?"

"More than that, can we talk about Cana having a card that summons hot chicks?" Macao asked.


	19. Gildarts, Part Three

**I posted two chapters today, so make sure that you've read the previous one.**

* * *

 **Chapter Nineteen - Gildarts, Part Three**

Gildarts awoke with a start on the infirmary bed he was lying on. "What happened?"

"Well, for one, you won me several thousand jewels," Macao said.

Gildarts stared at him. "You bet _against_ me?"

"Yep. Or, more accurately, I bet with Elle."

Wakaba nodded. "Girl's crazy scary. You hear her shout 'Number 7'?" he looked at me. "Did that mean you had seven different attack plans?"

"I thought we only had six," Cana muttered.

"The last one was a contingency plan in case you froze up," I told her.

"What's con-tin-gen-cy mean?" Juvia asked.

"It's like an emergency plan, or a backup," Levy told her.

"Gildarts, you may be…you," Enno said, "but Ellie-girl can be…very creative."

"Yeah, how else did Cana end up with a 'Sexy Lady Card'?" Macao muttered.

Enno hit him. "Are you still on about that?"

"Stop flirting," I told them. "Cana, you're up. Is there anyone you want me to kick out?"

She looked around at the group of us, with the rest of the guild hanging in the doorway. "Can Master, the rest of the kids, and Macao and Wakaba stay?"

"Sure, sweetheart," Enno said, walking out the door and closing it behind her, cutting everyone else off.

Freed walked to the door and quickly put down a set of runes blocking sound from escaping. "All set."

Cana nodded, breathing heavily. I put a hand on her shoulder.

She looked at it and breathed out before turning to look at Gildarts. "Did you know that I came to Fairy Tail to find my father?"

"No," he said. "Wait, does that mean that he's a part of the guild?"

"His name…is Gildarts Clive," she said quietly.

His eyes opened wide, and I could see Macao and Wakaba exchanging glances, finally figuring out what Cana's obsession with Gildarts was.

"You don't need to change anything," Cana said quietly. "I'll stay at Fairy Hills if you want, and you can still go on long missions, but I thought you-"

Her words cut off as he hugged her. "Nonsense. I'm your father, and I've got to say, I'm proud to be." He smiled at her. "My little girl is adorable and badass!" and then he burst into tears.

"What did I tell ya?" I whispered in Cana's ear. "Though to be fair, I didn't think it would be this extreme."

"Alright," I said. "Let's give them some time together. When you're done, Gildarts, please come up to Master's office. We've got some things we want to tell you privately."

He gave me an odd look, before turning to glance at Makarov, who nodded.

The rest of us filed out of the room and I closed the door behind us.

"Alright everyone," I told them. "Good job today."

I walked over to the table and requipped a giant cake onto it. It read, _Congratulations, Gildarts and Cana_.

Then I pulled out a second one that read _The Youngest Generation Reigns Supreme!_

We had won the fight. If Gildarts had used any of his serious moves, like _Empyrean_ or _Absolute Heaven_ we would have been toast. But because of a mixture of underestimation and hesitation from using such destructive powers on kids, we managed to win.

Also the fact that we had surprised him with our powers, and our…unconventional attacks.

And, you know, the cheating with Freed's Runes.

Still, we had won. We knocked him unconscious, and in a world full of mages, that was really all that mattered. If it came to dark mages, there was no such thing as fair.

If we hadn't won, I would have just kept the cake.

Gildarts and Cana exited the room later and I requipped a party popper, setting it off. "Alright everyone, let's get this celebration on!"

We cut up the cakes and started handing out slices.

"Enno, maybe she should take over for you," Macao said. "You really know how to cook, Elle. Where'd you learn? Aren't you nine?"

I gave him a deadpan look. "I'm a nine year old who lives alone. How do you think I learned?"

"Yeah, speaking of," Wakaba said. "You don't stay at Fairy Hills, do you? You know you don't have to pay rent there."

"She doesn't have to pay rent where she lives either," Laxus said. "She owns her house."

"How? You're nine." Gildarts turned a questioning glance towards me, and most of the rest of our guildmates were paying attention, too.

I smirked. "Magic."

A small shock hit me.

"Ow!" I turned to glare at the culprit. "The hell, Laxus?"

He shrugged. "I'm trying out convulsive shock therapy. Every time you're a smart ass, I'll shock you."

I glared at him. "You wanna go?"

He paled. "No, Elle, I'm just telling you to stop being a smart ass!"

"You don't see me telling you to stop being a tsundere!"

"Dammit, Elle, stop saying that! I'm not a tsundere!"

"Liar!"

Gildarts cleared his throat. "You wanted to talk to me?"

I nodded.

Gildarts turned to Cana. "Pack up your stuff from Fairy Hills, you're going to move in."

She brightened. "Okay."

"Cana, grab as much as you can carry," I told her. "I'll drop by later for the rest."

She nodded.

I started walking up to Makarov's office, with Gildarts right behind me. "What do you mean, drop by later for the rest?" Gildarts asked.

"I've been teaching Cana requip," I told him. "So she'll put as much as she can in her storage space, which is still pretty small, and then I'll put the rest in my space. Then I'll teleport us to your house. Simple."

He gave me a look. "You can requip and teleport, too?"

I smiled. "Yep."

Though I'd have to use the magic cards; my own container was empty as hell. No point in waiting on fixing the training field either, I guess.

I opened the door and lead Gildarts inside. Makarov was already sitting by his desk.

"So what's this about, Master?" Gildarts asked as he entered.

"I don't know," he answered. "Elle called this meeting."

Gildarts gave me a strange look. "You let her call meetings?"

"Yes," I said. "Because I happen to know the future."

He stared at me. "Really?"

"I have undeniable proof she knows the future," Makarov said. "I cannot share all of that with you, but she gets full authority on this."

"She's _nine_ ," Gildarts said.

"Technically, I'm mentally nineteen," I told him. "Anyway, I'm here to tell you a few things. One is that I knew Cana was your daughter. I also know that if I wasn't able to convince her to tell you today, she would have waited until she was eighteen."

Gildarts froze. "Eighteen…I would have missed twelve years of my baby girl's life…" He burst into tears and embraced me, squeezing me half to death. "Thank you thank you thank you."

"You're welcome," I breathed. "Please let me go, I'm going to pass out if you don't."

"Oh, sorry," he said, loosening his grip.

"Another thing," I said. "Have you considered taking a century quest?"

He gave me a weird look before sighing in recognition. "Future, right. That's how you know. Yeah, I was considering it, but I decided to wait a few more years. Now that I've got Cana though…"

"Good," I told him. "Don't do it."

"Why not?" he asked.

"One, we're going to have some tricky problems in the future, and your help would be greatly appreciated. Another thing, you would have gotten really hurt."

"How hurt?" he asked.

"Well, I dunno," I said sarcastically. "How hurt do you count being mauled by a dragon and losing two limbs?"

His eyes widened.

I winced. "Sorry, I probably should have put that better. Anyway, in the other timeline you ran into Acnologia, the Black Dragon of the Apocalypse. He was not happy to see you."

"Which limbs?" Gildarts asked quietly.

"Does it matter?" I asked.

He breathed out. "No I suppose it doesn't, since it's not going to happen this time around.

I nodded. "That's the spirit. Remember that. Anyway, since you're here, maybe you can whip the older generation up to shape. I'm doing fine with the younger one, as you've probably seen."

He whistled. "Doing fine is an understatement. Some of those attacks were incredible. I still can't believe Laxus managed to do a unison raid with a five year old."

"Juvia has had magic since she was born. I brought her to the guild earlier in this timeline so that she could practice her magic, and so she could be happier. In the other timeline, she didn't join the guild until she was seventeen, and she was in Phantom Lord before that. Before she joined Phantom Lord, she was even more miserable, because she couldn't control the rain. It would always rain around her."

"And the others?" he asked. "Freed and Levy? Are they other members?"

I nodded. "I don't know what time they originally joined, but Levy's parents were killed and she was kidnapped. When I recognized the name, I took the other three – Freed hadn't joined us yet – and saved her."

"You took three kids to take on bandits?" Gildarts asked.

"Cana and Juvia didn't have to do anything," I said. "Laxus did one attack and I did two, and then one more spell to keep them where they were. It was extremely easy. Easier than I thought it'd be, actually."

"What is with your magic?" he asked. "I know Earth Magic, but I've never heard of those spells, and your magical seal looked a bit different. And then you turned into a shadow…"

"That's because it's not just Earth Magic," I said. "It's Planetary Magic. Earth is just the first element I learned. I've started with Pluto, too, for defense – I can turn my body intangible, that's what that was. Other than that, I'm planning on going to Tenrou sometime after Christmas so I can learn Venus, Mars, and Neptune."

"That's…light, fire and water, right?" he asked.

I nodded. "The only ones I'm worried about are Jupiter and Saturn. I have a few theories for Jupiter, but Saturn – which is wind – has got me almost completely stumped."

"Work on the others for now, Elle," Makarov said.

I sighed. "Alright. Also, when is Laxus's birthday? Next week, right?"

Makarov nodded. "November 23rd."

 _I can't believe it's already November. And Laxus's birthday is in five days._ "Alright. I'm going to be stealing Laxus tomorrow for his present. We might be a few days."

"...Alright, just be careful," Makarov said, sighing. "Where are you going?"

"Galuna Island," I said.

"Are you sure you want to go there? Can't that place be a bit dangerous?" Gildarts asked.

"That's why I'm taking Laxus. I need to go because there are keys there, but I had a specific warning from Virgo to take a partner. Since it's with a pile of treasure, Laxus also gets to have fun. He also gets first choice from a lot of the things I find, before I share the rest with the other kids."

Makarov nodded. "Alright, I'll accept that."

"Cool," I said. "Now I should probably get to Cana's and then your house, Gildarts. And also tell Freed to go home. When will Fairy Valleys be done, anyway?" I asked Makarov.

"They're already done, I was going to tell you today, but then Gildarts arrived."

I smiled. "Alright, that's good. I'll move him in tonight, and that way I don't need to worry about him while I'm gone."

I turned to Gildarts. "When I'm gone, I want you to be a magical battery for the kids."

"You what?" he asked.

"I want them to practice moving _your_ power through _their_ core. They won't be able to hold it very long, because their magical cores are a lot smaller, and your magic is a lot different, but I would like Cana and Juvia to at least try. Not only will it help boost their magical power, but it will also help them with Unison Raids. Though Juvia has a certain knack for them…"

"What do you mean?" Makarov asked.

"She managed to do a Unison Raid with me, too," I told him. "That's what one of the other formations was. Levy and Freed were always together, but me, Juvia, Laxus and Cana would rotate our pairs."

"Interesting," Makarov said quietly.

I snorted. "You think it's interesting now, give it two years."

"Two years?" Gildarts asked curiously.

"Yeah, I won't be able to interfere with their timeline before then, but by the time X774 comes around, I'll be able to bring them in."

"Is there anyone else you specifically need to wait on?" Makarov asked.

I nodded. "Again in X776 and X777. And actually X778. Though you're going to be getting the most in X777. You'll be getting anywhere from one to five in X774 (depending on if I can pull it off), anywhere from one to six in X776, and anywhere from seven to fourteen in X777. And also another seven in X778. Though four might not count."

They both stared in shock.

Makarov cleared his throat. "Elle, are you telling me that you can definitely confirm seven joining in X777?"

I nodded. "Yep. Definitely. One of them might end up joining a bit later, but I've been visiting her every once in a while, and even though she's not here currently, she's training pretty hard on her own."

Makarov stopped to think. "Is she the Celestial Mage you're gathering keys for?"

I nodded. "Yes, and she isn't allowed to get another Zodiac until she can open all of her other Zodiacs at once."

He stared at me in shock. "That's…that's impossible!"

"No it's not. Future, remember?" I asked, tapping my head. "I'm just speeding up the process. She's currently contracted to four Zodiac keys. If she can hold them all open at Christmas, then I'll give her Sagittarius's key. Simple. She accepts it, and she understands, too. She's very determined."

"You have Sagittarius?" Makarov asked curiously.

"Not yet," I said, smirking. "I will in a week. That's why I'm going to Galuna Island."

I looked at my watch. "Alright, guys, gotta pop. Don't worry Gildarts, I'll grab Cana when I teleport. You just go home."

He nodded, and using a card, I popped downstairs, outside. Burning through that card, I quickly fixed the training field so it was back to normal, only a little singed. No sign of there being an earthquake though. I popped back inside next to Freed.

"Hey, Freed, I'm going to help Cana move into Gildarts's house," I said. "Can you get home on your own?"

He nodded. "I will see you later, Ella-sama."

"Goodnight Onee-sama!" Juvia cried, hugging me.

"Goodnight, Juvia," I said, ruffling her hair a bit.

Levy swallowed her cake. "Goodnight, Elle-chan!"

I smiled at her. "Goodnight, Levy. You have a bit of cake on your nose."

"Ahhh?" she cried. " _Solid Script; Mirror_." A MIRROR popped out, shiny and reflective, and she used it to wipe the cake off her face.

I was still laughing as I teleported away.

* * *

 **I would love to see your guesses. *hint hint***


	20. Gildarts, Part Four

**Chapter Twenty - Gildarts, Part Four**

I popped straight into Cana's room, where she had her clothes put in her requip space.

"I can't fit anything else," she said. "Sorry, Elle-nee-chan."

"It's fine," I told her. "My space has gotten huge, just from carrying things around in it, and I've got plenty of extra room for your things."

I went around the room, requipping things as I went, before I had a thought.

"Fuck!" I yelled.

"What's wrong?" Cana asked.

"I don't know where he lives!" I yelled. "I forgot to ask."

Cana laughed. "It's off of Orange Boulevard."

I nodded. "Alright."

There was a section of the city that was pretty close to the guild, where each road was named after some sort of fruit. They tried to make alliterations, too. Like 'Strawberry Street', the road Lucy's apartment is on.

I requipped Cana's bed and we looked around the empty room. "Ready?" I asked her.

She smiled at me. "Yeah."

I took her arm and we popped to the corner of Orange Boulevard and Raspberry Road.

"This way," Cana said, leading me down Orange. "He lives on the edge, near the woods."

I nodded and we sped up, nearing his house (which was surprisingly run down for an S Classer).

"Thank you, Elle," Cana said quietly. "I really do consider you a sister."

I smiled at her softly. "No problem. I consider you guys my sisters, too, and you deserve to be happy. I wasn't going to let your own stubbornness get in the way."

We were outside the doors now, and Cana merely looked at them. "If I hadn't done it now…do you know when I would have?"

"Yes," I said quietly. "When you were eighteen. I wasn't going to let you guys dance around this problem for twelve years."

She nodded. "Thank you, Elle. Hey…do you think he's going to fix up the house?"

"He will if I have anything to say about it," I growled.

Cana laughed and knocked on the door. Gildarts let us in and into Cana's new room, which was probably the cleanest of the whole house.

"I suggest you just put the things you need down for now…I'd like to repaint when you come back in a few days," he said.

I nodded and put most of her things off to the sides, so Cana could freely move throughout the room.

"Goodnight, guys," I told them. "I'm giving Freed instructions for tomorrow, alright?"

Gildarts nodded, as I popped away.

* * *

I appeared at my house, and went inside to find Freed reading.

"Freed, your room is ready at Fairy Valleys," I said.

That name was _supposed_ to be a joke.

"It is?" he asked, straightening up. "Alright, then I should put my things away."

I nodded and we packed up a few things before I requipped them. I took his hand and we moved to the building he was staying in.

Makarov was waiting for us, and we walked up the stairs. "I had them build bookshelves into the walls," he said.

"Thank you, Master," Freed said.

I opened the door and put down Freed's bed, followed by most of the things he owned. "Freed, I suggest you start organizing how you want things. I need to write a letter, if you don't mind."

He nodded. "That's fine. I would like my dresser over there, and my desk over here. You can write the letter there."

I placed the furniture where he wanted it and put his books on his bed. Freed immediately started organizing them as I sat down at the desk and wrote a letter with instructions for the following day.

I finished and looked up. "I'm finished. Do you need any help?"

Freed shook his head. "No. You may go home, Ella-sama. Thank you for letting me stay with you. I must admit, I'm going to miss your cooking."

I smiled at him. "My cooking actually wasn't that good; I just know how to follow a recipe. I'm only really good at making deserts, or bread. Bakery type things. But that's it. The rest…I just have a good cookbook."

"I may have to borrow that," he murmured.

I laughed. "That's fine. Tomorrow I'll be out with Laxus, and I probably won't be home for the rest of the day, and maybe another. I have instructions for training here, alright?"

He nodded. "Good luck."

"Thank you, Freed," I said, before popping home and going to bed.

* * *

Gildarts arrived at the guild the next morning with Cana beside him. He was so proud of her – of all of them. He was also looking forward to Elle's training instructions.

They went inside to the training room, where Freed was waiting with Levy and Cana. Makarov was there as well.

"Alright," Freed said. "Ella-sama left a note."

Before he could read, the door creaked open. Macao, Wakaba, and Enno stood there. "We were hoping that we could join your training session."

"Sure," Freed said.

"How come you're in charge?" Cana asked.

"I'm Ella-sama's third in command," he said proudly.

"Who's second?" Enno asked.

"Laxus, and he's not here," Freed said.

"Why are you third?" Cana complained.

"Because I'm older than you," Freed said.

"That's not fair," Cana said. "Both Juvia and I have been here longer than you, _and_ we're stronger than you."

"Yes, well, Ella-sama left the note with _me_ , so I'm in charge!" Freed said.

"Just read the note! Jeez!" Levy said.

Freed cleared his throat.

" _Hello, everyone. Laxus and I have gone to get his birthday present, and also possibly fight some monsters. But that's debatable._

 _As for training, I want the usual routine in the morning; meditation for three hours._ "

"Three hours?" Macao and Wakaba cried.

Freed glared at them. "Do not interrupt me when I am reading Ella-sama's note."

He continued.

" _After that, I want at least Cana and Juvia to try using Gildarts as a magical battery. Doing this, you would set your own magical power aside, take his magical power, convert it into your own, and then cast it. I will admit, this will probably be hard, and you probably won't be able to hold it for more than a few seconds at best. Despite that, this is very good for expanding your magical capacity and for future Unison Raids. Make sure you do not use your own magic; it must be Gildarts's._

 _When that is done, I want the four of you to use your magic to make Laxus a birthday present while you rest from using your magic. First come up with what you want to make while you relax. You can team up, and work together, and if you need extra supplies, like lacrimas or something, that's alright; just take an adult with you, so you're not scammed. I'll pay back the adult for what it costs (just try not to go overboard 2,000 J), and I would like a receipt, please. Then work on building whatever it is._

 _As for anyone else joining in on this session, such as an older generation, I want them meditating the entire time. A whole day, meditating. That's it. Breaks only for bathroom and eating. Gildarts, make sure you remember to wake them up for meal times, otherwise they'll be in a trance-like state all day._

 _I don't want to hear your complaints. Either follow the instructions and meditate, or get out."_

On the words 'get out', Freed pointed at the door, almost as if he was channeling Elle.

"Are we really going to meditate all day?" Wakaba asked.

"Yes," Macao said, smacking him.

"I wonder what Elle-chan is doing," Levy muttered.

* * *

With moving Cana, Levy, and Freed's things, my storage space had gotten much larger. It was probably the size of the first floor of the guild, and it was almost completely empty.

There was a section where there were a series of drawers built into the 'walls'. In the top one, I kept all the keys I had.

Under that, I kept any food I had.

The third drawer down held everything from a first aid kit, to pain medication, and potions that I had gotten from Porlyusica. (Back to that in a bit).

Under that I had two drawers full of clothes for me.

There were several sections on the walls that were adorned with the magical instruments and the weapons we found.

Looking at the map on the wall, I took down several cards that were pinned up there.

As I mentioned before, with Cana's help, I had made cards for the members that I was unsure about. Since I wouldn't be at my house to monitor them, I pulled them from the wall and set them in my top drawer, that was split into fourths.

The first three were for keys; one for silver, one for gold, and one for platinum. The last section is the one where I put the cards in, along with Sagittarius's thumbtack.

Not long after arriving in this world, I had gone to Porlyusica's and politely knocked on her door. I asked her if I could borrow the recipes for her potions, because I wanted to be prepared. I told them that I would store them in my requip space.

To my surprise, she softened (very very very slightly) and instead of simply letting me borrow the recipes, taught me how to make them herself. When she was sure that I could make them perfectly, she let me leave - or kicked me out, it depends on your perspective, I guess.

As for the cards, I would concentrate on the person. Cana would then tie two spells to that person's card – one to track how they're feeling, and one to track their location.

Since I didn't know when these people came to the guild, I had the cards specifically look out for distress. By using our extra magic cards, I was able to keep them running easily, monitoring for any sort of change. If there was distress, I could send some magic through the card and find out where they were. Simple.

That being said, I put the cards for Evergreen, Bickslow, Jet, Droy, Max, Warren, Laki, Nab, Alzack and Bisca in my storage space. If their distress reached a certain level, I would activate the card and find them.

So I took them with me. Just in case.

Just in case.

* * *

 **Guess who's next!**

 **Also, my anxiety has been acting up...I almost didn't post the fight with Gildarts...so if I could have some sort of reassurance, that would be very nice...**

 **Also I know that Elle shouldn't win all of these fights, and she's not. There was a small mention in Gildarts Part One that when she fought against Cana and Juvia, she lost.**


	21. Galuna Island

**Chapter Twenty One - Galuna Island**

"You said this was an island?" Laxus asked.

I nodded, letting go of his hand.

"This doesn't seem like an island. I mean, it looks tropical, but…"

"That's because it's not near the shore, dummy," I said. "We're a lot more inland. When we're done, we'll explore the temple, and then go relax on the beach, alright?"

He nodded, smiling. "Cool."

I opened my requip and pulled out Sagittarius's thumbtack. Letting it balance in my hand, it spun around until it slowed down and pointed in one specific direction.

"That's where it is?" Laxus asked curiously.

I nodded. "Mmmhmm. We just follow the direction it's pointing in, and we'll find the site." I started going in the direction it pointed, with Laxus following along behind me.

"How do you know about these sites anyway?" he asked.

"There are four major celestial sites," I told him. "I already found one, and that's how I knew about the others. I've been locating the keys I know specifically so I can find the sites. In addition to having keys and tomes, these sites also have treasure, something more people will likely go for if they discover them."

"So this is the second site, and there are two more?" he asked.

I nodded. "I'll probably take you or Freed for the other sites, for protection."

"Why Freed?" Laxus asked.

"Runes can be extremely handy. I might take Cana too, though, she's becoming pretty skilled."

Laxus nodded, before saying. "I want to come."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine. You can come with me. One site we'll take Freed, and the other we'll take Cana."

"Why do they have to come at all?" he grumbled.

"Because I want them to get experience," I told him. I stopped moving. "Alright, it should be here…"

Pulling away at some of the forest leaves, we came upon a set of ruins that were covered in treasure.

"Bingo," I said.

"Woah…this is awesome!" Laxus said.

I smirked. "Tell me about it. Now, since it's your birthday, you'll get your choice of five different things here. You aren't allowed any keys, if you wanted one for whatever reason, and I need to approve books if you want one of them."

"I'll probably just go for the treasure," he said.

"Awesome," I responded. "For now, just help me gather everything. If you see one thing you want to keep while we do that, show it to me, alright? I want to keep track of everything we find at these sites, it might be important in the future."

"What if I find _six_ things I like?" Laxus asked.

I rolled my eyes. "Show them to me, and I'll see. But I want to catalogue everything that I find, alright?"

He nodded, and we started moving the treasure into larger piles, with me requipping as we went. Laxus ended up setting two pieces aside; a snake chain with an empty pendant (one that, by the looks of it, could store magic), and a nicely cut ruby the size of my eye.

"Nice," I said. "You want me to put it aside, or do you want to hold them for now?"

"If you could hold them…" he asked.

I nodded and requipped them into a new drawer I had made for Laxus's luggage, that was labeled as _Laxus's shit_.

We had finally gotten everything on the surface taken care of. That being done, I requipped a shovel. "Alright, so you've got two choices – dig or stand guard. Which one do you want to do?"

"You aren't going to make me do a certain one?" he asked.

"It's your birthday," I said, rolling my eyes. "What do you _think_ I'm going to make you do? Come on, Laxus!"

"I'd prefer to stand guard," he said, looking away.

"Fucking tsundere," I muttered under my breath as I took my shovel and started to dig.

"What are you looking for?" he asked.

"I already got ahold of Sagittarius's key, along with a silver key, but there are some buried keys here as well. I can sense them because of my connection to the Earth. My magic not only registers the magic from the keys, but also that there's a foreign entity, which is good because…."

I stopped digging and pulled out three things – a key, a ruby, and an odd looking snake pendant. "…not everything here gives off a magical signature. I can also find buried treasure this way." While both the key and the snake pendant had given off a magical signature, the ruby was just a gem. While it was true that a lacrima was technically a gem, and that some gems _could_ give off magical signatures, most don't.

He nodded in understanding. "Oh, I get it now."

"Cool," I said, grabbing the shovel again. This time I found two keys in that spot. I pointed a few ways away. "Could you lightly dig there? There's some gems just underneath the surface."

Laxus nodded and began gently brushing in the spot I pointed, pulling out several piles of gems.

The next spot I went to had no keys, just magical artifacts and some gems. In fact, there was only one key left, but it was very deep and I'd probably have to use magic to get it, so I'd wait until tomorrow.

Pulling out the last things, some odd looking artifacts and a bag full of books, I requipped everything away.

"Alright, so I got everything for tonight," I said, looking at the sky. "Though there will be one more key I need to get tomorrow."

"Tonight?" Laxus looked up too, noticing how dark it was. "Oh. We probably should have eaten lunch."

"Hey, at least we ate before we left," I said. "Let's hike back to the beach; I'll get us dinner and we can camp out under the stars."

"What about the tide?" Laxus asked. "Isn't that something we need to worry about?"

I nodded. "Yeah, but only if we're too close. We should be able to find a good spot." Making sure I had all our stuff, I started walking back to the beach. We settled on the ground as I brought out a series of snacks and Laxus made a fire. Though he really only grabbed some sticks on the way to the beach and then used his magic to start it up.

"This is nice," he said, as we laid out on blankets on the sand. I had found a place close to the ocean, but far away enough that the tide would only bother us if there was a tsunami.

"I know," I said. "The stars are so bright, because there's no light pollution."

Laxus made a noise of agreement. The fire behind us crackled.

"Goodnight, Elle," he said softly.

"Goodnight, you damn tsundere," I said.

"Elle!"

I laughed. "Happy Birthday, Laxus. Goodnight."

"Yeah, yeah. Goodnight."

* * *

I awoke the next morning fully rested, which was kinda surprising considering that I slept on the cold, hard ground.

I got up and stretched, hearing some of my joints pop.

"Go on, make a ruckus why don't you?" Laxus asked.

I winced. "Sorry. Dragon hearing?"

He nodded. "I mean, I was up awhile before you, but still. Sometimes it's just…a shock to your system."

"All the enhanced senses?" I asked.

"Yeah. I can get the most unbelievable headache, and for the oddest things, too. Sometimes just because I can see so well, it _hurts_."

"You're probably not done assimilating with the lacrima yet," I said. "Eventually, it should merge with your body completely, but right now it hasn't. In fact, I don't think it started until _you_ started eating lightning."

"How long do you think it could take? Do you know?"

I shook my head. "I would venture a guess of a few years, but no, I have no idea."

"Damn," he muttered. "Well, I guess I'll just have to adjust." He turned to me. "You said you had one more key to get?"

I nodded. "It's a lot deeper than the rest, so I'll need to use my powers."

It was a lot more powerful, too, which made me hope it was a Platinum Key.

"Let's get started, then," Laxus said. "Do we have food?"

I requipped two sandwiches. "Yep, I made these before we left. Don't want to make the same mistake as yesterday, huh?"

We trekked towards the site, closer to the mountain.

As I got down on my knees to start my magic, I heard Laxus say, "At least it's inactive."

"Hmm?" I asked.

He gestured to the mountain. "The volcano. It's inactive, which is why I'm not that worried about you digging so deep. I don't think we have to worry about magma or anything."

I blinked at him. "How do you know it's a volcano? I thought it was a mountain."

"Well, usually mountains on islands are actually volcanoes because of how islands are made," Laxus started.

I knew that much from when I was still in school. Can't believe I'm getting schooled by a twelve year old…

"Also, the rock down here is igneous. Can we take some back?" he asked.

I nodded. "Sure, grab what you want, I'll requip it. How do you know so much about volcanoes?"

He blushed and mumbled something.

"What?" I asked.

"When I was younger I wanted to eat lava."

"Why?" I shouted.

"Well, I didn't know what it could do! I just thought…wow, that looks cool, and I guess I thought it was some sort of desert topping like chocolate fudge or something so…"

I shook my head. "Unbelievable." I snorted. "Just…keep guard until I'm done getting the key."

I was a lot more nervous knowing that this was an inactive volcano, but I should be fine.

Though we probably weren't going to explore the ruins.

He nodded and turned to guard me, as I channeled my magic and used _Arms of the Earth_ to reach down for the key. I had almost gotten it when I felt a burst of magic from behind me.

"Elle, watch out!" Laxus shouted, running towards me, but it was too late.

A giant forest Vulcan was running straight for me, and slammed his giant hand into me. "Give back treasure!" he yelled.

I, however, went flying in the other direction, before my back slammed one of the walls of the ruins.

Pain, like I had never felt before, exploded across my back, and I wondered if I broke it.

I couldn't help but be grateful that I've been practicing magic straight for six months, because running magic through your body makes it more durable.

I'm sure that if I had been as I was before (in my previous life) I would have died from the hit.

A giant shadow loomed over me. "Where treasure?" the giant thing grunted.

"Get away from her!" Laxus shouted, giving the Vulcan a large shock that sent him flying.

"Elle, are you okay?" he asked.

"I've had worse," I said.

I mean, kinda. Does being hit by that flying car count? I mean it killed me.

But it was instantly, so it didn't hurt.

He helped me up, and pulled me off the wall. I couldn't help but wince as I stretched my limbs.

But at least it meant my back wasn't broken.

"You get the key," Laxus said, turning to the Vulcan. "I'm gonna beat the shit out of this thing! NO ONE GETS AWAY WITH HURTING MY NAKAMA!"

Distantly, I remembered when I first met Laxus, and how I was his first friend.

Tears started welling up in my eyes.

Damn, I really loved this guild.

I made my way back to the mountain ( _volcano,_ I reminded myself) as Laxus ran around, continually kicking the Vulcan.

"Use your dragon slayer magic!" I told him as I reached the base.

"No way, this stupid thing doesn't deserve dragon slayer magic! I'm trying to push myself, Elle! I'm gonna take it down with regular lightning magic."

I shrugged (which hurt). "Fine. Have fun. I'll be done in a few minutes."

I closed my eyes and concentrated on the key again. The vines reached down farther and farther, until it grabbed hold.

Even though I wasn't touching it, I could feel a flare of magic from the key, and it started to burn away at the vines holding it, which dragged it up faster in order to keep hold of it.

The vines threw it out of the soil and dangled it in the air for me, with other vines underneath to catch it if it fell.

The key was burning hot, and was a dark red color because of the heat.

Despite that though, I could still make out the sign, something I had guessed it was from the moment Laxus told me this was a volcano.

Phoenix, the firebird.

And also the fourth platinum key. One step above Monoceros.

I looked back at Laxus, who was still having fun beating up the forest Vulcan, muttering to himself and yelling nonsense as he went. Shrugging, I requipped out _Spirit's Compendium_ and flipped through to Phoenix's section.

" _Phoenix_ ," I read aloud. " _The firebird, known for its amazing healing abilities that can bring someone back from the point of death if caught quickly enough. Also known for its superb control over fire._ "

I shut the book. "Listen Phoenix, you either hid your key because you don't want an abusive master or because you don't want someone to die while trying to summon you. I'm going to be giving you to Lucy Heartfilia. If you've listened to any of the buzz in the spirit world, then you should know that you don't need to worry about her being abusive."

The key glowed brighter.

"And if you're worried about her dying in attempt," I continued. "Don't be, because I won't even give it to her until she can keep," I glanced down at the book "six golden gates open at once."

The key stopped burning.

"Thank you," I said.

"It's not that simple," a voice said.

I turned behind me. Standing there was a young man about the age of fifteen, who looked reminiscent of Loke. His hair was a redder color, and the tips were orange, and it was ruffled up the middle, reminding me of David Tennant's hair as Tenth Doctor (on Doctor Who). He didn't wear glasses, and his eyes were a beautiful orange color.

"Phoenix, I assume?" I asked. "How are you out here?"

"Once our gate has been opened once, we can come out on our own. Seriously, you knew that Leo could do that, right?"

I nodded. Honestly, I should have figured they could open their own gates.

"So that means Corvus can come out, too?" I asked.

He snorted. "Yeah, if he ever decides to get off his lazy ass."

We waited a moment.

He sighed. "Yeah, he's been extremely antisocial as of late."

"You said you could come out because your gate was opened once. But the book says that the top five strongest haven't been summoned, and you're ranked as fourth."

"I know that I'm ranked as fourth."

"So you have been summoned?" I asked.

"Obviously. That book doesn't know everything."

"Then when have you been summoned?" I asked.

He looked away. "It was once. The Celestial Mage's child was dying, and she wanted me to save her. After going through childbirth, summoning a gate she couldn't open, and then supplying me with the extra power needed to heal, she died from the strain."

My mouth dropped open, and I felt my eyes fill with tears.

"Do you understand why I don't want anyone to get my key?" he asked. Phoenix paused. "Do you _promise_ you won't give me to her until she's ready?"

I nodded. "The book says five gates to summon you, and six to use your full power. She'll probably want to hold your key and try to talk to you, because she did that with Monoceros, but she knows that she's not allowed to summon until I say she's ready."

"You have Monoceros?" he asked, curious.

"You could tell I had Corvus, couldn't you?" I asked.

"Corvus is my older brother," he said. "I could immediately sense that you had him somewhere with you, though not entirely."

I nodded, and requipped his key. "I keep them in my requip space so they're safe." I handed him the key, and he sent a burst of power through it before his brother appeared.

Corvus's hair was calm and slightly neat in comparison to his younger brothers. It was a dark color (one could even called him raven-haired, hehehe), and it matched his midnight blue eyes. "Brother," he said softly.

Phoenix threw himself at his older brother, sobbing his heart out. "I've missed you so much!"

I don't know how things work in the spirit world; sometimes it seems like everyone is connected, and other times it seems like they've never even met the other spirit until they shared the same master.

"I'm surprised you've let someone take your key, little brother," Corvus said quietly, hugging his brother back.

Corvus reminded me a bit of Rogue, except you could see both eyes, they were a blacker color, and he was taller and lankier. His face was a lot longer as well.

"She's going to give us to the Heartfilia Princess," Phoenix said happily. "And she promises that she won't give her our keys until the girl is ready."

Geez, it was like he'd done a complete 180.

Unless this was his actual personality, and that was him just being serious.

The elder spirit looked at me. "Really?"

I nodded. "I have rules for her. She won't get another Zodiac key until she can open all the ones she's currently contracted too. As she can't open three yet, I haven't given her your key, either. I know it says that it only takes two to open your gate, and three to utilize your powers, but I want to be certain, so I'm waiting until she can open three at once."

"Smart," Corvus admitted. "I would like to meet her, next time you visit."

"I as well!" Phoenix said happily.

I nodded. "Sure. Also, do you know if any of the other information in this book is wrong?"

Phoenix shrugged. "I'm not sure. Honestly, we should probably go over it, to make sure that the information you have on Celestial Magic isn't out of date."

"Does that mean that you'll come out often on your own?" I asked excitedly.

He paused. "Maybe…"

"I'd love that!" I said happily. I turned to Corvus. "You, too?"

He sighed and nodded.

"Wonderful!" I squealed. "I won't be visiting Lucy until Christmas. Until then, I'll be going through several things, and when we get back to my house, you guys can go over my books, and I'll make dinner. How does that sound?"

"Cool," Phoenix said.

"I haven't had human food in a while," Corvus said. "Why not?"

"Awesome!" I said. "Also, let me introduce myself properly. My name is Elle."

"Nice to meet you, Elle," Phoenix said. "Do you mind if I do something real quick?"

"No…..?"

He came around behind me and put his hands on my shoulders. A nice, tingly cool feeling started trickling from the base of my neck downwards, and the pain in my back started to fade.

"There," he said. "All better."

"Thank you!" I said happily, spinning around and jumping up and down. "That was amazing!"

My body felt good as new again.

"Ahhh!" came a yell from the side.

We turned and saw Laxus, who was getting up to face the Vulcan again.

"You need any help?" I asked.

"No, Elle! I already told you, I'm gonna kick his ass _without_ my dragon slayer magic! I'm just going to use regular lightning magic!" He attacked the thing again with a new fury.

"Idiot," I muttered under my breath.

"I heard that!" he shouted.

"Well, hear this!" I yelled. " _Tsundere_!"

"Ahhh, dammit Elle, I'm not a tsundere! Stop calling me that!"

"'I am going to fight the Vulcan all on my own!'" I mimicked. "Yeah, you're definitely not a tsundere."

"Ahhhhhh! You know what, since it's my birthday you're not allowed to call me that!"

I rolled my eyes. "Fine. I won't call you a tsundere. For now."

Laxus sent one more powerful charge at the Vulcan, who toppled over, unconscious. "Alright!" he shouted, before turning. He froze at the sight of the two spirits. "Who the hell are they?"

"These are two of the seven strongest Celestial Spirits to exist," I told him.

"Cool, can I fight them?"

I sweatdropped.

Phoenix was looking at Laxus curiously. "Could you come here?"

Laxus looked at him warily, but obeyed nonetheless.

"You said you were a dragon slayer, yes?" Phoenix asked. "Where you raised by an actual dragon?"

"No," I answered for him. "Laxus is something called a 'Second Generation' Dragon Slayer. He got the powers of a dragon from someone putting a lacrima inside of him."

"I see," Phoenix said, before putting two hands on Laxus's shoulders.

"What are you-" Laxus was cut off by a brilliant light.

As it faded, it was easy to tell that all of Laxus's scrapes from fighting have been healed, but something else had obviously changed as well.

Phoenix nearly collapsed.

"Idiot brother," Corvus muttered, catching him. "He'll be fine, he's just exhausted because he did so much healing on his own power." Corvus turned to Laxus. "We'll be going now, but what he mainly did was assimilate your lacrima with your body. It should no longer exist now; it's a part of you."

With a flurry of feathers and shining Celestial Light, they disappeared.

* * *

 **Thank you for all of your lovely reviews. I have also posted this story on Wattpad, for those who would rather read it on there, or comment on lines specifically. I've also added pictures. :)**

 **You'll meet the next kid next chapter. :)**


	22. Bickslow

**Chapter Twenty Two - Bickslow**

"Would you look at that," I said softly. "How do you feel?"

Laxus smiled back. "I feel great. Thank you, Elle. I know that it wasn't intentional, but this was the best gift I could ask for. Everything just feels right now. Like someone reshaped a puzzle piece that was too big, and now it fits perfectly."

I hugged him. "That's great."

"How's your back?" he asked.

"Phoenix healed it up, too," I said.

"Good," he said, finally hugging me back. "I was upset that you got hurt on my birthday trip."

OMG, Laxus gives _amazing_ hugs.

In my past life, I never really got a lot of hugs. A few of my teachers, when I was younger, would hug me at the end of the school year, when I had to say goodbye.

But other than that, I got no other hugs.

I guess that's why I hug all the kids so much.

And since Laxus is bigger than me (and, you know, he's eventually going to get huge) his hugs are the _best_.

I'm just glad he stopped being a tsundere long enough to actually give me a hug.

It was as I was pulling out of the hug that I froze up, feeling a signal from my requip space.

"What's wrong?" Laxus asked.

"Nothing, I hope," I muttered, requipping away the keys and switching it out for the alerting card.

Bickslow's card was lit up, shining brightly in the darkness, showing a sign of two things; one, his distress, and two, the full activation of his magic.

I don't know for sure about all of the others, but I know that Bickslow's Figure Eyes and Evergreen's Stone Eyes are both a natural gift they have. Because of that, I added the activation of magic into everyone's cards. The fact that it was signaling both Bickslow's distress and magic activation was bothering me.

I flipped it over and activated the locator spell. After a few seconds, it came up with a destination, and I grabbed Laxus's hand and teleported.

"What's going on?" he asked as we sneaked around the corner. We had appeared in a hospital, and the card could tell me which way to go.

"We're here because another one of our future members, a boy named Bickslow, had a lot of distress and an activation in his natural magic. We might need to take him to Fairy Tail now, so be quiet. Also, don't panic if anything happens. Makarov should be able to fix anything."

He nodded and followed me, where we hid outside a room with a door slightly cracked open.

"What have you done?" came a horrorstruck voice, clearly a woman.

"Mom, look, I've saved Papa!" came a child's voice.

"Saved him? _Saved him?_ You should have let him die in peace, and instead you stuck his soul into some sort of puppet! You evil child, how could you do this to my father!"

"But…but he asked me to," Bickslow's voice was so quiet I strained to hear it.

"What happened…Bickslow, what did you do?" a man's voice entered the conversation.

"I saved Papa, Dad. He…he _asked_ me to."

"That's it, I'm calling the council," the man said. "You're a danger to society."

"What? He's your son!" the mother screamed.

"I've never seen him as my son! My son would never be a demon in a child's body! He looks at us and he _knows things_ , like he sees into our souls, and that's not normal! And now, he moved your father's soul into one of those damn puppets he made! I'm having him put away!"

The man made a sound like he was moving to make a call, and I busted the door open and threw a kunai at the lacrima, breaking it before he could grab it.

Huh. That was the first bullseye I've ever gotten.

Good thing I didn't aim for his hand, like I was originally going to.

Or was it a bad thing?

Also, I'm not paying for that.

"Who are you?" the man said harshly.

I felt Laxus move behind me to back me up.

"We're Fairy Tail. And seeing as how Bickslow is 'not your son'," I made air quotes, "I guess you could say that our guild is adopting him. He's ours now."

"What? You can't just…take him!"

"If you're going to verbally abuse him, then hell yeah, I can! You're obviously not treating Bickslow like he should be, just because you're an idiot and you don't understand magic."

I turned to Bickslow, who stood next to a hospital bed with a sheet covering the prone body. Next to Bickslow was one of his flying dolls, and Bickslow's Seith Mage symbol on his face - a blue stick man - was slowly getting more and more prominent.

"Bickslow," I said to him. "Papa. We would like you to join Fairy Tail. There, you will fit in with others, and also learn to control your powers."

Bickslow kept looking away. "Thank you for the offer, but I think my Dad is right. Maybe I _shouldn't_ be around people."

"Bickslow," I said quietly. "Look at me."

He closed his eyes and shook his head. "No way, I can't control it!"

"Relax," I told him. "And look me in the eyes."

Slowly, he turned to look at me and opened his eyes.

Instantly, I felt his soul grab hold of mine. It was admittedly an odd feeling, but I ignored that and leaned into his soul, hugging it and accepting it, filling it with love and warmth.

His soul slowly let go, still holding on by a thread, as if it was holding my hand, but mostly staying away.

"There you go," I told him, taking his hand in mine. "Now come on. Let's go to your house and get your things. Don't worry, you'll like Fairy Tail."

"Wait, I said you can't take him!" the man yelled.

"That's bullshit, and you know it," Laxus said.

I turned to him. I honestly had no idea what he was talking about.

"A few years ago, the Council implemented a law that allowed bona fide members of registered and approved guilds to take away anyone they saw being abused or mistreated, particularly because of their magic. You have no claim," Laxus said coldly.

And then we walked out the door.

 _Well, that explains why it's so easy to take kids with me..._ I thought.

Bickslow was crying as we walked down the street. "Thank you…" he said quietly.

"That's what a family is for," I told him.

"Then why didn't my Dad do that?"

"He wasn't nakama," Laxus said quietly.

Bickslow looked over at him.

"My father was never kind to me. He always expected too much from me, he always wanted more, more than I could give. Elle helped me realize that he was never really my family. He might have my blood, but if he was _really_ my nakama, he wouldn't have treated me that way." Laxus's voice was quiet. "I know it's not easy. It hurts, thinking about how they treated you. But you aren't alone. You have me, and Elle, and the rest of Fairy Tail. We'll accept you. You're one of us now."

"Thank you," Bickslow whispered, continuing to cry.

"Why don't we actually introduce ourselves?" I said with a smile. "I'm Elle, I'm nine years old. This is Laxus, he just turned twelve."

"A few days, actually, but whatever."

"I'm Bickslow and I turned nine last month."

"How can you be nine, you're taller than Laxus!"

Bickslow merely shrugged, but it was true; Bickslow was two or three inches taller than Laxus.

I wonder if he gives better hugs.

"I'm Papa!" the doll cried. "I was one hundred and two when I died!"

Laxus let out a whistle. "That's impressive."

"While it is impressive that you lived over a century, Papa, Laxus doesn't need to rub it in."

"Rub what in?" Bickslow asked, confused.

Laxus snorted. "I get that look on her face. It means she can't whistle."

"You can't?" Bickslow asked, before whistling himself.

"Don't rub it in!" I cried.

"Yes! I found something I'm better than Elle at!" Laxus cried.

"Whistling? Really?" I deadpanned.

He glared at me. "Ahh, shut up!"

Bickslow laughed, and pointed out a house in front of him. "Here's where the four of us lived."

I nodded, and gestured for him to open the door. "Cool. Laxus, go with Papa to see if he wants to keep anything from his room, I'll get Bickslow's things."

"How are we going to keep it all?" Bickslow asked as he opened his door.

I smirked. "Grab all your loose items and clothes and throw them on the bed." Then I went around requipping the dresser and the rest of his things.

Bickslow watched in shock, and didn't get his voice again until we left his room.

"Where did it all go?" he asked.

"One of my magic's is _Requip_ – it allows me to store things in what's technically another dimension. It's like I'm carrying around an invisible, floating storage space."

"Is that how you made that knife appear out of nowhere?" Bickslow asked.

I froze in the middle of opening the door to Papa's room. "My kunai! Dammit!"

I left it at the hospital.

Laxus laughed. "Seven minutes, Elle!" And then he pulled out the kunai from a knife strap in one of his back pockets. "Can't believe it took you seven minutes!"

"Shut up!" I yelled, before pointing to the pile on the bed. "This everything?"

"Yep!" Papa said. "Can you take the blanket, too?"

"Why the blanket?" Bickslow asked as I requipped it.

"Your Grandmother made it, and I wanted to keep it."

"Is there anything else you want me to grab around the house, Bickslow?" I asked him.

He nodded.

"Cool, let's go. Laxus, take a bunch of food from them, too. They deserve it."

Laxus snorted, but went to the kitchen anyway.

Bickslow, who was giggling, went to grab some toys and other things, while Papa led me over to a bookcase.

"The first row," Papa said. "Those are all books on magic. Take them all. They'll be useful to you, and the other ones should help Bickslow."

I nodded, requipping them. "Thank you."

Bickslow came back with more things. "I've got everything."

"I've got food," Laxus said, having emptied out the fridge and the pantry.

"Cool, we'll take it to the guild," I said to Laxus, requipping all of the food. Turning to Bickslow, I took his stuff and held out an arm. "Take my arm, and wrap Papa under your other one."

He listened, and Laxus grabbed my other arm.

And we went to Bickslow's new home.

* * *

"I present to you; the Fairy Tail guild!" I yelled, spreading out my arms so Bickslow could see the front. Before I turned and kicked the doors open. "Guys, we're back, and we brought food!"

There was a bunch of yelling, and the training room door burst open, with a legion of tiny children running into the room and attacking us.

Well, mostly me.

"Onee-sama!"

"Elle-chan!"

"Ella-sama!"

"Elle-nee-chan!"

"Elle, thank god, they're evil!"

The last exclamation came from Gildarts, who was crying as he threw his arms around me, sobbing as he held onto my legs.

I rolled my eyes. "Hey guys. Gildarts, you're an adult. Stop this; you're acting younger than Levy."

Levy and Juvia giggled. Cana facepalmed.

I shook off Gildarts and went to the bar, requipping all the food onto it. "Anyway, I've brought in a new guild member!"

Everyone turned to look at Bickslow, who tried to hide behind Laxus; keyword being _tried_ , as Laxus instead steered him around and towards Makarov, who was sitting on the counter.

"Hello, my child," Makarov said. "What is your name, and magic?"

"My…my name is Bickslow," he said quietly. "And…and I don't know my magic."

I threw my arms around his shoulders. "C'mon, remember what I said? You're fine here!" I turned to Makarov. "He's a Seith Mage, and he also needs help controlling his Figure Eyes."

Makarov nodded. "Very rare. You've got quite the talent ready to be cultivated, my boy."

"You don't think it's weird?" he asked.

Makarov shook his head. "Not at all. In fact, I wish I could see souls."

"See souls?" Cana asked.

" _Souls_?" Levy asked. "Does that mean you see soul mates? Do they exist?"

"What are soul mates, Levy-san?" Juvia asked.

"Soul mates are two people who were absolutely destined for each other in every way!" Levy said happily. She turned back to Bickslow. "So, can you?"

"Uh…"

"How does that work, exactly?" Freed asked, moving quickly to Bickslow's side. "What do souls look like? How can you tell the difference, what do the souls tell you? Can you see memories? Thoughts? What about things like gender, and age, or other physical properties?"

"See?" I whispered, nudging Bickslow's side. "No one will condemn you for anything. They're just interested. We all have our own interesting pasts or powers or tics, alright?"

He looked at me, and then very slowly, he smiled.

"Alright."

* * *

 **A guest review mentioned Bickslow being in the circus, which is from One Word Can Change the World. However, I like Chefbabe's origin story for Bickslow better - moving his grandfather into one of his puppets on his deathbed. If you haven't already read Celestial Mage Wanted, I suggest you do. It's updated around once a month, and it's all the main ships. It's great, and a wonderful story, so I suggest you check it out.**

 **Also, a friend of mine asked me if I would break into their houses if I could teleport in real life. The answer is YES.**

 **However, I would not take your food, or even anything, because I'm not a kleptomaniac.**

 **I'm not really sure how Elle ended up being a kleptomaniac, but she definitely is one.**


	23. Happy Holidays

**Chapter Twenty Three -** **Happy Holidays**

I know why Bickslow is such a pervert.

I don't know a lot about abused kids, but I do know that sometimes, when they switch to a non-abusive caretaker, they tend to push their guardian so they know where their limits are; how far they can push before they're punished, so to speak.

I'm sure that Bickslow was punished for any small thing, no matter how strange or weird, because he (very) slowly started showing more and more of his oddness to everyone else.

It started with his guildmark.

"Your tongue?" Makarov asked. "Are you sure?"

Bickslow nodded. "Yeah, definitely!" He stuck out his tongue.

Makarov sighed. "Oh well, it's your choice." And then he pressed the stamp to Bickslow's tongue.

Bickslow then spent the next several hours drinking water, trying to wash out the taste of magical ink on his tongue. It finally stopped bothering him…after a few days.

Then he started using Papa to spy on the older generation. As you could probably guess, I (and therefore the younger generation) was completely fine with this, as was Papa (because he could be young again – he was a 'flying ninja').

The older generation, if you could not tell, was not fine with it.

Some of the younger ones of the older generation (such as the 'old timers' who were still around in the future, like Macao and Wakaba, and even Gildarts) found it funny…until we started using Papa to play pranks on them.

Makarov was fine with all of this. He felt that it made the guild livelier.

Eventually, Bickslow stopped pushing. He came to the realization that it really _was_ different here, that he really _was_ safe, and that it really _was_ okay to be himself.

After that, he fit in pretty seamlessly.

He got along well with Freed, and they bonded over research, oddly enough. Freed helped Bickslow look up more about Seith Magic (which made Freed happy all on its lonesome), and Freed would also put runes on Papa to make him more durable and to channel magic easier. They also bonded over being the only two boys in Fairy Valleys. Every other boy in the guild had already had an apartment before the place was built, so they felt no need to move.

There was a bit of an emergency when we learned that Papa needed a lacrima for his puppet. He explained to us that he wouldn't be able to communicate as freely, and while he would still have independent thought and be able to watch Bickslow's life (which is why he chose this), he wouldn't really get to continue living, per se.

After hearing this, I figured that this must have been what happened in the other timeline - why Bickslow's souls would repeat what he said. It had seemed a lot different compared to how lively Papa was now

Bickslow panicked, and most of the rest of us did, as well. Makarov told us the type of thing we were looking for, and I thought I had a few similar items in my treasure hoard. I brought it all in and dumped it, and while we didn't find the right type of lacrima, we found a decent substitute that would last for a few years, so we had time to look for the right type of lacrima

* * *

Laxus's birthday went by with a breeze. He found three other things in my treasure hoard, and was extremely happy with them. They were three gems – an emerald, a unique piece of hematite (which is particularly good for conducting magic) and an odd little spherical moonstone, which matched the one on the necklace he gave me, except it was the size of a small pearl. I have no idea how he even found that in all of the things.

Levy had gotten lacrimas and had imbued them all with lightning, for Laxus to carry with him, so he could eat them if he needed to. Cana and Juvia worked together to make a card that would let him soak the floor with water so he could conduct electricity in the middle of a fight. Freed let Bickslow in on his gift, and Bickslow suggested that instead of simply making a rune defense for Laxus, they would make a _prank_ rune defense, one involved the person to trigger it to be covered in paint.

I had to take a break from the group because I was laughing so much when I heard that, especially when Makarov yelled that he would pay to have that around his house and office so I wouldn't break in.

Which reminded me that I had been too busy training too break into his office lately, which was probably the reason he hadn't already asked Freed.

That was also the day that Freed and Bickslow started their security company, but that's a story for another time.

* * *

After that, we all had Christmas together. Most of us spent Christmas Eve at the guild, gathered around a tree and sharing presents, which held an odd variety of things, especially since most of the younger generation tried to make each other's gifts with their own magic.

I ended up taking anything I had gotten as a gift and placing them in my study, as a sort of tribute to all of the wonderful people in my life.

I couldn't wait to meet more of the others.

The best part of Christmas Eve though was just sitting around with the others, enveloped in the warm and homey atmosphere. Honestly, it was something I'd never had before, and it made me feel like heaven.

Several times that night I nearly cried out of happiness, but I managed to hold it back.

But now I waited outside the Heartfilia mansion, waiting to be let in from the very, _very_ cold weather. It was December 25th, at around six in the evening, and it was already dark out. Jude, after already celebrating Christmas with his family last night and again this morning, had decided that he had to go attend his company's Christmas Party, which was tonight – which gave me the perfect opportunity to celebrate Christmas with Lucy.

Layla opened the door. "Sorry, Elle, I know it's cold."

I waved it off. "Eh, it's fine."

I had requipped a giant quilt out of my storage, which was now snuggled around me.

Layla smiled at the sight. "Merry Christmas."

"And a Happy New Year!" I finished, as she led me inside. Since I always teleported to the back of the house, Layla would let me in herself, instead of sending a servant to do it for her. "How has Jude been, with the whole training thing?"

Layla sighed. "Not very well. It doesn't really _help_ that you know the future, because he doesn't believe it."

I stopped to think. "I believe that at some point in the original timeline, the Junelle Corporation ended up having to buy the Konzern because Jude went broke."

"When was this?" Layla asked, shocked.

"Awhile from now," I said. "Late in X784, I think. Might as well warn him. It's his fault if he doesn't take me seriously."

"Ellie-nee!" came a child's voice, and I was tackled by Lucy. "It's so good to see you! I've been practicing super hard!"

I smiled at her. "Really?"

She nodded. "I can open three gates! They're not all Zodiacs, but I can open three, isn't that great!"

I blinked. That was faster than I thought. "Can you open two Zodiacs?"

Lucy nodded. "But if I open three gates, only one can be a Zodiac."

"I see," I murmured.

"She's working on making it two Zodiacs and one silver, and then she'll concentrate on three Zodiac gates."

I nodded. "Nice. Now, you know what that means, right?"

Lucy frowned, but nodded. "Yeah. I can't summon Monoceros yet. Or get another Zodiac key."

I nodded. "Yeah. I've got silver friends for you, but you need to hold off on the others."

"Alright," Lucy said sadly.

I nearly screamed at seeing how sad she was. Just…ahhh!

"But…" I said. "You read the book I copied for you, right?"

She nodded. "Yeah, the spirit book."

I requipped Ophiuchus's key into my hand. "If you can convince me to give this to you, you can have it."

Lucy stared at it, before grabbing the book off a shelf. She flipped forward and held it up to me.

"In the Table of Contents, Ophiuchus is in the Golden Key section, _but_ it's called 'The Zodiacs and the 13th Gate'. That means that the book doesn't count Ophiuchus as a Zodiac key!"

I gave her an odd look. "Did you already make this argument on the off chance I'd offer you Ophiuchus?"

Little Lucy giggled. "Virgo told me that you found his key, and she hinted that you might give it to me, so I made an argument, just in case."

I shook my head and turned to Layla. "You've actively seen her summon three spirits, or two Zodiacs?"

Layla nodded.

I smiled, and handed Lucy Ophiuchus's key. "I suggest you go outside, if you want to summon him. He can be pretty big. Also, be careful. I think it takes quite a bit of energy."

Lucy nodded eagerly and ran outside, with me and Layla tagging along.

"Don't take too long," I told her. "It's chilly out, and you shouldn't be out long."

Lucy nodded again and gathered her power, before swiping the key and shouting, " _Open, Gate of the Snake Charmer; Ophiuchus!_ "

A large magic circle appeared, and out of it came the coiling serpent.

"Woah…" Lucy said quietly, before shouting. "Hello Ophiuchus, it's nice to meet you! You're so cool! My name is Lucy Heartfilia, and I'd like to make a contract with you!"

There was a moment before a deep voice said, " **Yes, I will accept you as my Master.** "

"No, I'm not your master!" Lucy said, all smiles. "I'm your friend!"

She ran forward to the front of Ophiuchus's mouth. "Can I pet you?"

Ophiuchus nodded, a bit stunned.

Lucy threw her arms around the giant snake, petting his scales. "You're so awesome, Ophiuchus. I'm glad I get to make a contract with you."

"Hmm, why do you think she reacted like that?" I asked Layla as Lucy spoke with Ophiuchus.

"I think it's because of Ophiuchus's impressive size," Layla said, smiling. "It's probably the closest she can get to a dragon right now."

I couldn't help laughing at that.

The oppressive magic vanished, and Lucy ran forward with a tiny purple snake curled around her neck. "Mama, Ellie-nee, look! Ophiuchus has a mini-form! It takes a lot less magic to keep him out like this, too."

"I'd certainly hope so," I muttered. Turning to Lucy, I smiled and rubbed her hair. "Alright, cutie pie, how about we go over the silver keys I've got, alright?"

She nodded eagerly.

We went back inside and I requipped three keys; Aquila the Eagle, Caelum the Chisel, and Pictor the Easel.

I didn't want to give her Serpens because she just got a giant snake, and Musca the Fly and Chaemeleon the Chameleon had too much to do with sneaking around, so I wanted to hold off on both of those for now.

Speaking of which, I had to go over the other silver keys from Galuna…

Lucy squealed and happily hugged the keys, going to the book so she could check them.

"I have a few more questions for you," I said. "Can you solidify your power?"

Lucy blinked. "What do you mean?"

I paused. "Lucy, instead of just moving magic through your body, try to manifest it." Holding out my hand, I concentrated on the feeling I get with earth, and a clump of earth formed in my hand.

"Wow," Lucy said.

Tightening my magic on it, I put enough pressure that it hardened, and when I was done, a rock was left in my hand. I gave it to Lucy. "You can manifest your magic, and you should try it. It should help with your power, and if you're strong enough, you can even make weapons."

"Really?" she asked.

I nodded. "Since you'd be making it out of Pure Magic, it would be a lot stronger. So I'd like you to try doing that."

Lucy nodded.

Then, I requipped a book, and handed it to her. "I also want you to read this book, and practice _Requip_. I know that it's another type of magic, but it should help with your magical reserves, and more than that, it should also help you store your keys in a safe place."

Lucy took the book. "Got it. I'll work hard, Ellie-nee!"

I smiled and ruffled her hair. "That's good, but don't forget to have fun, too. If it's alright with your spirits, you could always just take them out to play and spend time with them."

Lucy smiled. "Alright!"

There was a chime and a bright light, and Virgo appeared.

"Virgo!" Lucy said happily.

"Hello, Hime-sama," Virgo said. "If you excuse me, I must speak to Elle-sama."

"Okay!" Lucy said.

Virgo led me into an adjoining room before handing me a book.

"What's this?" I asked.

"This coming year, Yukino will be born," Virgo said. "Libra and Pisces have told me to give this to you to give to her when you next see her." She handed me a bracelet. "When the time comes, this bracelet will lead you to her."

I nodded. "Alright. Is there a particular reason why they want her to have this book?"

Virgo paused. "There are five Stellar Bloodlines. Each have a specialized form of magic. The Heartfilia's, a name passed down through the women of each line, were the world's first Celestial Spirit Mages. The Fernandez Clan was always especially talented at Heavenly Body Magic. The Aguria Family were known as the Priestesses of the Moon, and specialized in that sort of magic. The Fioran Royal Family was always very good at Sun Spells and Creationary Stellar Magic. And finally, the Rigby's were the best practitioners at Planetary Magic."

I paused to take that in. "W…what?"

"Of those magics, most are lost. There is no current Priestess of the Moon, or ones who know how to become one. We, the Celestial Spirits, are taking advantage of your appearance and knowledge to resurface this lost magic. The Rigby family died out a very very long time ago, but they were known as the strongest Planetary magic users. You are probably descended from them."

I shook my head. "That's impossible. It's not like I was born into this world, my child body at the age of nine just sort of appeared here!"

Virgo tilted her head. "And nothing changed upon entering this world?"

Seeing me hesitate, she continued. "You probably ended up getting a boost in magic and an affinity in Planetary Magic because the Rigby Family was added to your DNA. Whether or not they share your name for the same reason…who knows? To omniscient beings, time is meaningless."

I shook my head. "This is a lot to take in."

Virgo shrugged. "Give it some time. I also suggest you look over this book and the rest of the books you've found – it will help to know that information. But make sure that Yukino (and if you can, Sorano) learns that magic – neither were ever meant to be a Celestial Spirit Mage."

I nodded. "Alright."

"That is all," she said, before walking outside. "Merry Christmas, Hime-sama."

"Merry Christmas, Virgo!" Lucy said happily, and hugged Virgo before she could disappear.

"Wait, Virgo, one more thing," I said, before she vanished.

Virgo turned to me.

"When Lucy can hold open three Zodiac gates, I want you to start teaching her _Urano Metria_."

Virgo nodded, and disappeared.

"What's _Urano Metria_?" Lucy asked.

I smiled. "You'll see. If you want to know faster, though, you should probably work a bit harder. Also, I should probably get going. It's late. Anyway, I'm afraid that I won't be seeing you guys until your next birthday, Lucy."

She pouted. "Really?"

I nodded. "Yep, I need to get my own training in, too. Don't worry, you'll be fine. Show me how strong you are when I get back, okay? And I promise I'll spend the whole day with you." She smiled and nodded, before hugging me.

"Goodnight, Ellie-nee," she whispered. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," I whispered back.

I said goodbye to Layla and I teleported home.

* * *

Appearing there, I finished packing up all my stuff when I felt a surge in Celestial Magical Energy. Phoenix and Corvus appeared, in my room.

"So, what did you think?" I asked them.

"She's cute!" Phoenix said happily.

"She's a kid," Corvus said.

"Yeah, but what do you think?" I asked him.

"…" he said nothing.

I rolled my eyes. "You think next time you'll let me hand your key over?"

"Yes," he said. "She's probably strong enough now, but I think I'd prefer to stay with you a bit longer."

"Aww, that's sweet!" I said.

He completely ignored me.

Jerk.

"Where are we going, again?" Phoenix asked. "Galuna Island?"

I snorted. "That's where I found _you_ , silly. No, we're going to a place called Tenroujima – Tenrou Island. Or Tenrou, for short."

"What is it?" Phoenix asked.

"As I just said, it's an island, so I suppose you've got it half right," I told him. "And Tenrou is known as the Fairy Tail Guild's sacred ground."

"And….why are we going there again?" Phoenix asked.

Corvus sighed and schooled his younger brother. "Elle is going to train Venus, Mars, and Neptune there."

"Yeah," I said. "Still, it's a bit more complicated than that. I'd like you guys to come out often, if possible."

"Well, company should stop you from going crazy!" Phoenix said.

"Crazi _er_ ," Corvus muttered under his breath.

I ignored them. "I was hoping for a bit of your help with Mars, Phoenix. Fire _is_ your domain, after all."

"Why haven't you asked for my help with Pluto?" Corvus asked.

I paused. "You know, I didn't ever really look up your page in the book. So you control Shadow Magic?"

He nodded. "I'll help you with Venus, as well."

"Light magic?" I asked.

He nodded. "While I don't actually possess any light magic – that's the stupid lion's domain – I know how to help you balance it out. The hardest part of truly mastering Planetary Magic is learning how to control contradicting magic. Like Mars vs. Neptune, or Venus vs. Pluto."

"You know, you never told us how you were planning on learning the others," Phoenix said.

"Well, I've got Uranus covered – I know the perfect time to learn that. And I might be able to do Jupiter, but I'm a bit worried about Saturn."

"What about Mercury?" Corvus asked.

I froze, and dropped the book I was holding, before screaming and clutching at my hair. "DAMMIT! HOW COULD I FORGET ABOUT MERCURY! It's one thing to forget about Pluto, but _Mercury_? How could I forget about Mercury, with being an awesome element and an awesome god and the _first fucking planet_?"

Corvus snorted. "It's your memory. You tell us."

Phoenix laughed a bit.

I threw the book at him. "Oh, shut up."

Corvus rolled his eyes at the two of us. "You have just about everything packed. What about lessons, for the kids?"

"I've got that covered with Master and Gildarts," I said. "They know what they're going to do."

I left my (now empty) bedroom and went to the study, making sure I had what cards I needed.

"Everything looks good," I said.

"You got a tent?" Phoenix asked curiously.

I nodded. "Yeah, but that's just in case. In Fairy Tail Zero, there were buildings, so I was hoping to live in one of the abandoned ones."

"Aren't they all over a hundred, or something?" Corvus asked.

"Yeah, isn't that dangerous?" Phoenix asked.

"For the regular houses and village, yeah, but I imagine that the school library would still hold strong."

"So _that's_ why you're taking your bed," Phoenix said.

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, Phoenix. That's why. Now, it's time to get going. I want to get set up in time to sleep tonight."

They took my hands and I jumped us to Fairy Tail's sacred ground.

* * *

 **So... it turns out I forgot Mercury.**

 **Before Elle's four month training happens, there will be one more chapter coming up. I'll** **probably try to post that tomorrow, and then it will probably be a week (give or take a few days) before I post again, because I want to get the training montage out of the way in one go.**

 **Thank you to all my lovely reviewers, and to the guests I can't reply to. I hope you've all been enjoying this story.**


	24. Mercurius

**Introducing my first other OC. (Do unintroduced Celestial Spirits count as OCs?)**

 **It's pronounced Ah-May-Sheesh-toe. Ah-may for short.**

 **Also, I probably won't be finished with the training until the end of this week, so you guys probably won't get another update until Saturday or Sunday.**

* * *

 **Chapter Twenty Four - Mercurius**

It was two days later, on December 27th, that I realized that I was confused about the timeline, and that there was something I needed to do immediately. So I did what was possibly the most dangerous thing I've ever done.

I broke into Mercurius.

I needed to talk to the King.

* * *

I went to the Queen first. She was in a separate room, reading aloud to herself, and it was decently late at night.

I guess I thought she'd have green hair, like Hisui, but instead her hair was a deep purple color – not as dark as mine, but it was really vivid.

Before she could scream at the sight of me, I dropped to my knees. "Please give me a chance to speak, your Majesty. The fate of the future depends on it."

She seemed stunned in silence, before she started to speak again. "Why did you not go through the official channels?"

"I am but nine years old, my Queen," I said. "They would not approve me."

She waited a bit, before she said, "Audience granted. You may speak."

I relaxed a bit, but stayed kneeling. "Your Majesty, I come here bearing knowledge of the future."

"Do you have any proof?" she asked.

"I know that you are pregnant, and will bear a child."

Her eyes narrowed. "That hasn't been released to the public, and barely anyone in the palace knows it. However, you need more than that to convince me."

"I will admit, I imagined you would look different," I said, gazing at her. "I thought you would look like her."

There was a sharp inhale of breath. "Her?"

"Yes, your majesty. You are carrying a daughter."

She deflated a bit. "I don't look like her?"

I observed her face. "No, you definitely look like her. She has your face, and even the same type of hair, but her color is a light green. The color of jade."

"Hisui," she breathed.

"Yes," I said. "Though I am curious about how quickly you realized her name."

"Do you know my name, child?" she asked.

I blushed. I probably should have looked it up. "No, I do not."

She chuckled. "That is alright. My name is Ameshisuto, though I tend to go by Ame, as it's shorter. My family has a tradition of naming daughters after their hair color, and gems that match. My name means Amethyst."

"I see," I said.

"You may sit, child. And there is no need to be so formal, I despise that."

"I'm sorry," I asked, standing up and moving to a chair across from her. "But I'm a bit confused on why you haven't called the guards."

"To be honest, so am I," she said. "I've been trained to do so, that is definite. But something else seemed to stop me. In addition to that, I am a mage as well. I'm not very good in a fight, but I'm very good at knowing someone's intentions, and I can tell you mean me no harm."

I thought about tickling her. "How about now?"

Her brow quirked. "I'm not quite sure what it's saying, I've never seen that before. It seems innocent, but also mischievous…what is it?"

"I was thinking about tickling you," I said, shrugging.

She laughed. "Alright. So, what was it you wanted to speak about for the future?"

"There will be a point in time," I began, "where Fiore will go to war with Alvarez."

"They have quite a few powerful wizards," she began quietly.

The Spriggan Twelve haven't gathered yet, but they still had August and Irene.

I nodded. "It will be a few years away – Hisui should be of age by then, but it might change."

"So what do you propose we do?" she asked.

"At some time in the future, your husband will start something called the Grand Magic Games. Each guild enters a team of five people, and the winner of the games is declared the strongest guild in Fiore. They also won 30 Million Jewels, but that can be changed if you want it to."

"Alright, and you're suggesting…"

"Move it up," I said. "I want the Games happening earlier. Now, I'm fairly certain my guild will win, and when it does, there can be an article in Sorcerer Weekly with an interview with us. In it, I'll mention our training methods, and how we hope other guilds will adopt them, and that we're looking forward to a stronger fight the following year."

"I see," she said. "You hope to encourage all of the guilds by making it a competition, so they all get stronger."

I nodded. "Exactly. I'm pushing my guild pretty hard, and I've told Master to talk about it at Master Meetings, but this would be the best way to push them. In addition to this, I'm hoping that by making a huge spectacle and showing others how strong some of Fiore's wizards are, that other people will try becoming mages, too."

She seemed lost in thought. "30 Million is a bit much,"

"You don't need to do that," I said. "It's 30 Million in X791. You can start out with a much lower number and build it up as it gets hyped up. You can also sell out seats and stands, and make merchandise. That should help raise the revenue, and it will also help you give out a bigger reward."

She stood up. "Let's go, we must speak with my husband."

* * *

King Toma was not very happy that his wife talked to a stranger who magically appeared in front of her.

Now that I think about it, I can't help but wonder how Rogue ended up telling Hisui about the future. Maybe he just snuck in through the shadows?

Huh, maybe Hisui and her mom are alike in that way.

"Ame! You can't be serious!"

"I trust her, Toma! My instincts are telling me to trust her. They've never shouted this loud before, even in the past."

I listened enough to realize that Ame wasn't always royalty, or even nobility, which explained why her expressions were pretty clear when we spoke – she hasn't adjusted to formality.

I haven't heard the whole story, but I'm assuming that Ame's instincts made her take a left instead of a right or something, and they bumped into each other and fell in love.

Or something like that.

"Toma, she knows I'm pregnant!"

"Ame, _several_ people in the castle know you're pregnant! That doesn't mean she knows the future!"

"She knows it's a girl!"

That made Toma pause. "How do you know that, girl? We haven't even found out the baby's gender yet."

I frowned. "Why not? I'm pretty sure that there's a potion a magical doctor can give you that determines it…"

"Look, even if you don't believe she knows the future, at least listen to her idea. It's a good one!"

"We don't even know her name!"

"I'll gladly tell you my name," I said. "If you promise that you will not hurt my guild in any way for the things I do."

He paused. "Such as?"

"I mean that I don't care if I'm arrested. I mean, it would certainly throw a dent in my plans, and I'd have to write out a super long list of things for them to do since I couldn't do it, but as long as the conditions are decent, I don't care! Just leave my guild out of this. Don't disband them, or anything."

He paused. "Fine. Your determination is…interesting. Please continue."

"My name is Eleanor Rigby," I said. "Though I prefer to go by Elle. I am a member of Fairy Tail."

"That explains a lot," Ame muttered.

"At some point in the far off future, you will create something called The Grand Magic Games, or GMG for short. It's a competition between wizard guilds to determine the strongest in Fiore."

I could see the interest in his eyes. "That sounds intriguing…"

"At some point, years after it's created, Fiore will go to war with Alvarez. We will be unable to prevent it. I'm hoping that the Grand Magic Games, and the competitive atmosphere will help other guilds grow stronger, so we're more powerful. I'm already working on my own guild."

His eyes narrowed. "Go into more details, please."

"There's usually a preliminary round that shortens the number of guilds competing. I suggest that you have two teams for the top four guilds."

"What do you mean?" he asked, interested.

"After the top four guilds – which I suspect will be Fairy Tail, Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, and Quatro Cerberus, get past the preliminaries, there will be two teams of five for each guild. On the first four days, there is a game play in the morning. For example, one was a race, another was a monster destroying competition, one a battle in water or hiding in the city…etc. Then the latter half of the day, it's a one on one battle between pairings from different guilds. On the fifth day, there is a mandatory day of rest, and the last day is a huge battle royale. You can keep all ten participants from each guild, with forty players, or you can make each guild choose the top five contestants. After the winner is announced as the Strongest Guild in Fiore, there's a banquet thanking them for the entertainment and for helping with inter-guild relationships. It's a competition, but it's still friendly, and there are even times when you can change the battles so certain guilds work together. Generally, it starts on July 1st, and the banquet is on July 7th…Anyway, generally, there's a money reward included as well. You probably cannot spare money right now, but if you advertise the right way, sell out tickets for seats to watch the games, and make merchandise, you'll probably make income, and you can give part of that money away as a reward for the following year. Then, the winners will get an interview with Sorcerer so they can talk about their guild life and training regimen. I'm hoping that it will make everyone stronger, so we can also defend against Alvarez more easily."

"What makes you think that the guilds will fight for this country?" he asked.

"Of course they will!" I said. "I know for a fact they do! I also know for a fact that even though some of their opponents are much stronger than them, they keep fighting until the very end."

"What about Phantom Lord?" Ame asked. "They are quite a powerful guild as well."

I stopped. "Huh. Guess I forgot about them."

"Do they not exist in the future?" Ame asked.

"No, they were disbanded because they're basically a dark guild and Jose Porla is absolutely insane. I suggest you keep an eye on him."

Toma narrowed his eyes at me. "I will, but back to the Games…There's something you're leaving out, isn't there?"

"Are you sure you want me to say it?" I asked.

"Yes," he said.

"You end up dressing up as a pumpkin and becoming the mascot."

Silence. "I WHAT?"

"You put a pumpkin mask thing on your head, go by the name Mato, which is really just Toma scrambled, and go around announcing events and saying 'kabo' at the end of each sentence. You also raise your voice so people don't know that the King dresses up as a pumpkin sometimes."

There was silence.

"Say I believe you," Toma said. "What would you have me do?"

"Whether you believe me or not, I'd have you make the GMG real. If you can't do that, however…"

Toma was quiet before he said. "If the child is a girl, I will believe you. For now, the Grand Magic Games sound extremely interesting. I will speak to my advisors, so we are ready in six months. But for now…"

He pressed a button and yelled, "Guards! Imprison this girl for three days, please."

"Toma!" Ame said.

"She still broke into the castle," Toma said. "She will be allowed to visit us in the future if she goes through the front entrance – I will post a picture so they know to let you in and show you to a guest room. But you can't just break into places."

Okay, honestly, I was kind of surprised by how well that went. I walked over to the guards. "Alright, goodnight, Your Majesties. Have a nice evening!"

* * *

The guards didn't put me in cuffs, but they did lead me to the dungeons, where I was put in a pretty barren and old cell.

I figured that this was mostly a test – to see if I'd escape (after all, if I got into the castle easily, I should be out of the castle easily. I wasn't wearing magic inhibiting cuffs, either).

So for three days, and three nights, I sat around and didn't do much of anything. I didn't even requip a light pen and plan anything. I just spent my time sleeping, and meditating, for the most part.

Ame was the one who let me out. "Elle, my dear, I'm sorry about Toma-"

"Don't worry about it," I said, smiling. "It's fine, and I get where he's coming from. He's also the King, and he needs to make some tough decisions."

She nodded. "Alright, no breaking into the castle unless it's an emergency."

"Understood," I said, and requipped out a card as we walked to the exit. "This card should light up if I need to teleport directly into the castle. It should give you a warning. It's also a way to call me, if you need to, and I will come directly into the castle when that happens as well. If magic is sent through it – no matter whose magic – I will appear immediately. If you want me to come visit so we can discuss, hold down the signal."

She took the card and nodded. "Do you have another I can give to Toma?"

I nodded and handed her another, before curtsying. "Thank you, Queen Ame, for giving me a chance."

"Like I said," she said a bit absent-mindedly, and I realized she was looking at the stars. "I almost felt like someone else was making me give you a chance."

I followed her gaze and looked at the stars.

Someone else, huh?

I wonder what that meant. Was it the Celestial Spirits? The one that put me here?

Or something else entirely?

"Either way," I said. "Thank you."

"One more thing," she said. "Toma suggested having a running commentary, and wanted to know if you had someone to recommend."

I paused. "Well, originally, there were two other people that are probably too young to comment now. But Yajima was one. He's on the magic council, though he was retired by the time the GMG was formed. I'm thinking that instead of three judges, you can have each of the guild masters commentating live, so they can brag about their opponents and explain things that are happening. Yajima will be the neutral judge."

She nodded. "An interesting idea, and I'm sure Toma will like it as well."

"If that's all, I'll be going now. Goodbye, my lady. Have a nice evening."

She waved and I popped to Tenrou, happy to finally be in my bed again.


	25. Training, Part One

**These two are the training chapters. To the people who want me to jump ahead to Gray and Erza, I will be talking my time in them. You will likely not see Gray until we reach over 40 chapters. Sorry about that.**

 **However, with my updating schedule, it probably won't be more than two or three weeks. :)**

* * *

 **Chapter Twenty Five - Training, Part One**

"Why am I so damn hot?" I yelled.

Even outside, in nothing but a bathing suit, I was nearly dying. "It's fucking January!"

Phoenix rolled his eyes. "Stop being a cry baby. Now here."

He threw clothes at me.

"Why are you throwing clothes at me?" I yelled at him. "Didn't you hear what I said?"

"Of course he did," Corvus said. "But in order to be completely in tune with fire, we need to heat you up."

"Honestly, you're fine with staying in a prison cell for three days, but a little heat gets to you," Phoenix said.

"A LITTLE HEAT?!" I yelled. "I'm going to get heatstroke." I groaned, and started putting on the clothes.

"Of course you are," Corvus said. "That's why we're here."

"Oh, so that's why you didn't want to go to Lucy right now."

"How long are we staying here, anyway?" Phoenix asked.

"Until May."

The first few days (while I was gone) were spent preparing my living space, which was in the library. Luckily, I had taken a cooling lacrima with me, so that kept me at a decent temperature inside. I also had three or four fans.

But now it was January 1st, X773, and it was time to start my training.

I was starting with Fire.

I'm starting to hate the heat.

All I wanted to do was strip completely naked and run into the ocean.

Instead, I was stuck on the beach, standing on burning hot sand (that felt like hot coals), wearing three layers of clothing, and sweating my ass off.

"Now," Phoenix said. "Sit down and meditate."

I glared at him, but did as he said and plopped onto the ground, concentrating.

"Concentrate specifically on how hot you are, Elle," Phoenix said. "Oh the feeling of being unable to breath from the heat-"

"Shut your stupid face, I get it already," I told him, not looking up.

And despite the overwhelming heat, I quickly fell into a magical trance.

* * *

Hours later, I wavered. Nothing had happened, and I felt horrible. I was in a different position, and I couldn't open my eyes. My body felt heavy, and the air didn't feel right.

"Are you sure about this?" Corvus's voice said.

"Definitely," Phoenix said. "She needs a jump start."

"Or you could just be patient," Corvus said.

"Look, she already has heat stroke, and nothing has happened!" Phoenix said.

I had what?

But I still couldn't move.

"Look, you remember the King said something about a higher power or something, right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"So I'm thinking that this is a sign I should give her a boost. Nothing is happening because I'm right here and I'm available, but not doing anything."

I heard shifting before Corvus said, "When did you get so smart?"

"You may be older, but that doesn't mean I'm stupid," Phoenix grumbled. "Now stand back."

The air shifted and the heat intensified, before I felt burning.

I managed to open my eyes and looked down at myself, covered in fire. It hurt, but my skin looked fine. In fact, I could see more of my skin, as the fire started to burn my clothes away. Before long, I was surrounded in fire, which licked at my skin. The burning stopped hurting as much, but my skin still felt weird.

And then I passed out again.

* * *

When I woke up, I was inside again, lying on my bed.

"Hey, you're awake," said a cheery voice.

"Shut up, Phoenix," I grumbled.

There was some laughing at that, and I finally managed to open my eyes.

Phoenix and Corvus hovered over me, watching me.

"Could someone explain what happened, exactly?" I asked.

"Sure," Corvus said. "Basically, Phoenix made you impervious to flames."

I blinked. "Really?"

Phoenix nodded eagerly. "Yeah, your fire magic wasn't starting up so I gave you a kick, and then healed up your heat stroke."

"What do you mean by 'starting up'?" I asked.

"Generally, Fire Magic cannot harm the user, but the mage could still get hurt by someone else's fire magic."

I nodded. I had seen that, with Natsu fighting both Bora and Totomaru.

"I made you impervious to all flame, including any sort of slayer flame. The only thing that could possibly harm you was the user itself."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"A fire dragon, a fire god, and a fire demon. If any of these slayer types try to hurt you, it wouldn't do anything. Nothing but the real deal would harm you – an _actual_ fire dragon, an _actual_ fire god, and an _actual_ fire demon."

"Why is it so strong?" I asked.

Phoenix scoffed. "One, I'm a phoenix. We're badass. Two, I'm a Celestial Spirit. The strength of the Heavens beat any sort of imitation, and despite what they all wish to believe, all slayers are only human imitations of the real thing."

"Huh," I said. That means that Natsu couldn't harm me with Dragon Slayer magic.

E.N.D.'s magic, however, was another thing.

"Anyway, even though Fire Magic can't burn the user, the user usually has to go into some sort of heatwave or fire in order to gain control. They usually have to risk getting burned, at one point or another."

"Phoenix just decided he wanted to jump some of your training time in half," Corvus said.

I laughed. "I'm impatient too, so I'm a bit grateful. We'll still be here as long, but I can spend the rest of the time training other magics. I was also hoping that at some point, you guys could teach me hand to hand combat."

Corvus looked at me in surprise. "You want to be a melee fighter?"

I shook my head. "No, not really, but I need to learn how to do it anyway."

"Can't argue with that!" Phoenix said. "Sure, it'll be fun!"

* * *

The next two weeks was spent on conjuring fire and manipulating it into Mars's spells, all of which were very interesting.

Phoenix, in particular, had fun throwing balls of fire at me. Instead of creating all of the spells by myself, he also wanted me to be able to take my enemies' fire and use it as my own.

Corvus, who was in charge of my physical training, would also have me going through a routine while Phoenix sat off to the side and paged through all of the books I had gotten about Stellar Magic, checking them for errors.

At one point, while Corvus was having me do push-ups (I hate push-ups), Phoenix shouted, "Hey, Elle, am I allowed to correct this?"

"As long as you make a copy of each book, you can do whatever you want. But please do it to the copies," I said, grunting as I pushed my tiny body up and down.

"Awesome!" Phoenix yelled, and went back and reflipped through the books he had already approved, before taking them all and disappearing back to the Celestial World.

 _I swear, if I find dick pics on those copies..._

"Where did he go?" I asked.

"He probably went to ask Gemini to create copies of the books," Corvus said. "Also, you're slouching."

Fixing my posture, I continued. "I thought Gemini could only turn into people.

"No, that's Gemini's main power," Corvus said.

"Main power?"

"Over time, and depending on the strength of the Celestial Mage, a spirit's powers will grow. Barely any Zodiac, or any spirit, has fully unlocked their potential at any point in time, though I believe that the spirits Princess Lucy is contracted to are especially close to more of their powers."

"I see," I grunted. "Am I done?"

"Hmm…how about fifteen more?"

I groaned, but continued pushing.

* * *

After those two weeks on Mars, we moved onto Pluto, with Corvus leading me through it. Since I had already started with Pluto's Body, it was easier to access the shadow magic. It was definitely easier to control than fire, which always seemed to get away from me.

Well, the fire never actually got away from me, but it felt more difficult to control; almost as if it was alive at times.

"Do you guys have a schedule?" I asked. "I mean, it's like you've completely taken over my training."

"Yes," Corvus said. "We're hoping to improve your physical fitness as well as teach you the basics of Mars, Pluto, Neptune, and Venus. The last two months here will be spent directly on hand to hand combat. The second to last month will work on perfecting your control of the elements, and the last one will focus on using more than one element at once.

"Nice."

Once I got the basic moves of Mars and Pluto Magic done, we moved onto Neptune. I would spend time in the water, meditating and swimming, and doing both at once.

"You're a pretty good swimmer," Corvus commented.

"Thanks," I said, doing the backstroke. "Why don't you guys jump in?"

Corvus snorted. "You're funny."

"We're birds, silly," Phoenix said. "We don't swim!"

"You need to take a bath sometime!" I yelled at them, splashing water at them.

"I'm also a phoenix!" Phoenix yelled, running farther away from the water. "I like fire. Not water. F – I – R – E."

I laughed and went back underwater again. I had started manipulating it, but I remembered Juvia making a Water Dome, that had air in it. Closing my eyes, I concentrated on moving the water around me and encasing me in a bubble of air.

Smiling, I felt it take, and I let in a deep breath of air.

And then my concentration broke, and water flooded my senses.

I frantically swam for the surface, and broke it, coughing up water.

"Elle?" Corvus asked.

"Elle! Are you okay?" Phoenix shouted, moving a bit closer.

"I'm fine," I coughed. "I'm just gonna hold off on trying that until I have some more control."

"What were you trying to do, anyway?" Corvus asked as he led me from the water.

"I was trying to breath underwater."

"You're trying to grow gills?" Phoenix yelled.

Corvus facepalmed.

"No, I'm trying to create a bubble of air in the water. I managed to get it for a few seconds, but then it broke and I was breathing in water, not air."

Corvus sighed, and I continued my training.

* * *

By the time March hit, I was nearly done with learning Venus. Two weeks ago, Phoenix and Corvus had declared me proficient enough in Mars, Pluto, and Neptune to move on.

While of course it was stronger when I was in the sun (or any light), Venus magic was a bit odd.

It consisted of solidifying light and using it as a weapon. In some ways, it was harder to use, because I constantly had to maintain it. In other ways, however, it would be a lot handier. It was the purest form of magic any of my elements took, and Corvus said that it was probably the closest to Celestial Spirit Magic.

Now that I had finished Mars and Neptune, my body temperature seemed to have evened out, and I was back to dressing normally.

Which meant I was wearing a bathing suit when a card went off.

I froze and requipped out the flashing card.

Evergreen.

Figures, almost, that the Raijinshu would be united first.

Without stopping to change, I sent my magic through the card and immediately appeared at Evergreen's location.

I was clearly inside a house, and was startled to see a group of girls throwing things at Evergreen. Another girl was clearly a statue, in the corner.

"This is what we get for helping you with a make-over? You freak!"

"You turned her to stone!"

"Enough!" I yelled, stepping in between them. Reaching down, I picked up a pair of broken glasses off the floor, and handed them to Evergreen without looking at her. "Put these on."

The frame was broken, but the lenses we're still intact, so it should still work.

"She's a monster!" one of the other girls said.

"She's a mage," I retorted. "If you want her gone so badly, gather all of her stuff and bring it to me."

I brought the young girl a few ways away, and squatted down to look at her.

"I…I can't control it. I'm sorry," Evergreen sniffled.

I shook my head. "They're stupid. You're only a kid, Evergreen, they have no right to expect perfect control over a power you're born with."

I gave her a hug. "My name is Eleanor, though I typically go by Elle or another shorter version. I'm going to take you to my magical guild, Fairy Tail. You can learn how to control your power there; you're not the only one with magic linked to your eyes."

"You really think I can learn to control it?" she asked.

"Of course," I said.

"You…you said Fairy Tail?" Evergreen asked. "Like…fairies?"

I nodded. "You know, there are several types of magic associated with fairies. You can choose one to go with your Stone Eyes."

"Is that what it's called?" she asked.

I nodded.

One of the other girls came over with a bag.

I took it from her and handed it to Evergreen. "Here, make sure that everything is there. I need to talk to these girls."

I walked away from her and over to the other girls. "Will you guys tell me what happened here?"

"Yeah, we were going to help that freak and give her a makeover and she turned one of us to stone!"

I sighed.

"Um…Elle? I'm missing my Ma's brooch."

"Fine, take it you freak!" One of the girls yelled as she threw the brooch at Evergreen.

I caught it in mid-air, and the needle jabbed into my skin. Blood trickled down my hand, but I didn't pay it any mind.

"Come on, Evergreen," my voice said coldly. "We're leaving."

I took her arm and transported us outside, before turning to her. "Lead the way, and I'll speak to whomever about you joining Fairy Tail."

She nodded. "Um…Elle? Are you…alright?"

"I'll be fine," I said, pulling out the brooch and wiping off my blood. Clean, I handed it to her.

"You're getting reckless," a new voice said, and after the shining light faded, Phoenix stood beside me.

"What are you talking about, she was always reckless," Corvus said, appearing next to us.

I sighed in annoyance. Phoenix clucked his tongue and took my hand, waving his over mine.

"Evergreen, meet Phoenix and Corvus. They're Celestial Spirits."

"Did you summon them?" she asked.

I laughed. "Nah, I'm nowhere near powerful enough."

"Please, you could summon me," Corvus muttered.

"When I've never summoned a spirit before? Sure," I said. Turning to Evergreen, I smiled. "No, I didn't summon them. Corvus and Phoenix are some of the strongest spirits to exist, and because of that, are able to open their gates on their own. I'm currently holding onto their keys for a friend of mine. They tend to come out and join me."

"Which is a good thing, because Elle can get hurt a lot," Phoenix said, letting go of my hand. "And I'm a wonderful healer. All better, Elle."

"Thanks," I said, squeezing my hand. I held it up to show Evergreen. "See? Good as new."

She smiled, before deflating a bit. "Hey Elle?"

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Are…are there more kids at the guild?" she asked nervously.

"Yeah. Why?" I asked.

"Kids….kids don't like me. Especially…especially girls."

I rolled my eyes. "Don't be silly. I'm a girl, and I like you." I stopped walking and held onto her shoulders. "Listen, Evergreen, you're a special kid, and you're not the only one. The other kids at Fairy Tail all have their own sorts of magic, and more than a few of them were bullied, too."

"Really?" she asked.

I nodded. "All the boys in the guild were bullied by their own fathers. One of them is a Seith Mage, which means that he has power over souls, and he was born with something called Figure Eyes. Like your Stone Eyes, it affects people when he looks them in the eye. He ends up grabbing onto their souls, and he had a lot of trouble controlling it at first."

"Is he better now?" Evergreen asked.

"I honestly don't know," I said. "You see, I tend to know a few things about the future. One of those things is the names of people in particular who will end up joining the guild no matter what, and I decided to monitor them. You in particular will join our guild," I smiled at her, "which is really just one huge family. You'll be a part of it."

I looked away again. "I've spent the last few months training, and I honestly won't be back until May. But your card went off, and I knew that I had to come pick you up."

"Oh…I'm sorry," she said quietly.

"Don't worry about it," I waved it off. "It's fine. Anyway, where was I…oh yeah. There is this other girl, Juvia. She's even younger than you. She's only five, though I think she'll be six soon if she isn't already. She was born with a body of water. She can completely turn to water, and when she was younger, it would always rain around her. Until she joined Fairy Tail, she had never seen a clear sky. Now she has, and she can control the rain. She was bullied for it a lot, too, when she was younger, but now she has control over it."

"Oh," Evergreen said. "So…"

"Don't worry," I said. "They'll like you. You're also older than all of the other girls except for me, so they'll probably look up to you."

In the other timeline, Evergreen was very haughty and stuck-up, for the most part. Seeing her past, I could see why; it was a defense mechanism.

"You said…something about Fairy Magic?" Evergreen asked.

I nodded. "Mmmhmm. I'm pretty sure that it's a physical form of Light Magic."

"Light Magic?" she asked.

"Yep. Light can be solidified, and be particularly strong when used, too. As far as I know, Fairy Magic is long range, and is mostly controlled through explosions and the like."

"Cool," she said. "But…"

"But you want to be pretty while doing it, right?" I asked.

Evergreen nodded. "How did you know?"

I laughed. "Some things I just know, remember? How about this. You're going to be a Fairy, right? Well, we'll make you a fairy, then. If we put you in the right dress, you can still move around as freely, and you can wear leggings underneath. That way you'll still be able to fight. If you work hard with Freed, and maybe Cana and Levy, who you'll meet in time, they might be able to make you a pair of wings, so you can fly."

"Really?" she asked, wide-eyed.

I nodded. "Yep. That way you can fly around and cast your fairy explosions at people from a distance. What do you think?"

She smiled warmly. "That would be fun. But are you sure I can be pretty?"

My brow furrowed. "What the hell are you talking about Evergreen? When you're older you'll be gorgeous."

She looked down sadly. "But I'm not right now."

I snorted. "You're eight. No one is gorgeous at eight unless they aren't real. Don't worry, you're a cute and adorable kid. I understand that you're self-conscious, but if anyone teased you it was probably because you were jealous."

"But…those girls were going to give me a makeover…"

I shook my head. "Some kids can be really mean, Evergreen. If their jealousy was really bad, they might have even tried to convince you to change the way you dress or your hairstyle or something so you look more plain."

Evergreen stopped walking. "Here we are."

I looked up. Another orphanage.

I sighed, and requipped some shorts and a tank top. "Get your things from your room, I'll talk to the Matron."

Evergreen stared at the clothes. "How did you do that!"

"I'll have Freed and Levy explain it to you," I said. "Sometime in the future, I might make you learn it too, once you've learned to control your wings."

And once I get the book back from Lucy. It would be handy for Evergreen to keep an extra pair of wings or something in requip space.

Evergreen ran off to her room and I slipped on the shorts and tank top, slipping my feet into flip flops.

I walked in and went to the Matron. "Excuse me, miss, but I belong to the guild Fairy Tail."

I turned and showed her my guild mark.

"I will be taking Evergreen to my guild, where she will learn how to control her Stone Eyes," I said.

The Matron sighed. "Oh, thank goodness. This is about the Mage's Charter for Magical Children, right? I bought her a pair of prescription-less glasses, because it seemed to stop the affects, but I've been extremely worried." She gave me an odd look. "And…she actually wants to go with you?"

I nodded, just as Evergreen ran down the stairs.

"Elle, I've got what I need!" she cried.

I nodded at her, and requipped her bags away. "Alright, then let's go. Say goodbye."

"Bye!" Evergreen said, smiling at the Matron.

The Matron smiled softly. "Goodbye, Evergreen. Have a fun time!" She leaned forward and hugged me. "Thank you," she whispered. "I've never seen her smile, before."

"No problem," I whispered to her, and then took a step back, taking Evergreen's hand and walking out.

Once we were out of sight, I stopped moving and took off the clothes. "Ugh, I hate wearing bathing suits underneath clothes; it's so weird!"

Evergreen laughed.

I rolled my eyes and requipped away the clothes, before holding my arm out for Evergreen. "Ready?"

She smiled and nodded. "Yep!"

I took her arm and teleported us specifically to the training room.

And…right in the middle of a battle.

" _Earth Rock Wall_!" I shouted, holding out my arm. The seal appeared, and two walls appeared on either side of us, blocking both attacks.

Evergreen looked at me in awe.

"Elle!" Laxus shouted.

And then I was tackled by tiny children.

"Elle-nee-chan!"

"Onee-sama!"

"Ella-sama!"

"Elle-chan!"

I was held by three crying girls, plus one crying Freed. Looking over them, I glanced to the sidelines and saw Laxus, Bickslow, Gildarts, Macao, Wakaba and Makarov.

"What, no hello?" I asked them.

"I'm waiting," Laxus said.

Bickslow stuck out his tongue. "Long time no see, Big Sis!"

Papa flew up. "Hey, Elle!"

I smiled. "Hey, Papa." I turned to the kids. "Alright guys, come on. I can't say hello properly unless you give me room."

They slowly backed off, and I held out my arms, and said, "Youngest to Oldest."

Before Levy could hug me, Papa flew into my arms.

"Papa, you're one hundred and two," I told him.

"I've only been like this for a few months!" he protested.

I rolled my eyes and dropped him. "Come here, Levy!"

"Elle-chan, I missed you!" she cried, hugging me. "I made so much progress!"

"Really? That's great! Unfortunately, this is only a quick visit."

I was suddenly overwhelmed with complaints.

"Enough!" I said. "Calm down. Let's continue!"

"Onee-sama!" Juvia cried, before running forward and hugging me. "Juvia missed you so much! Will you be back next month? Juvia's birthday is in April!"

I blinked. "Did I miss anyone else's birthday?"

They all shook their heads.

"Chronologically speaking, Juvia's is the first of all you kids," Makarov said. "It's April 26th. After her birthday is yours."

I nodded. "Gotcha. Then I guess I'll stop by for your birthday next month, alright?"

"Yay!" Juvia cheered, before letting go for Cana.

"Elle-nee-chan! Guess what!" Cana yelled.

"What?" I asked, hugging her.

"I beat Laxus!"

"You did not!" Laxus yelled, joining in. "I won and you know it!"

Cana let me go and turned to yell at Laxus. "Nuh-uh!"

I sweatdropped, and turned to Freed, who shrugged and said, "Officially, it was a tie." Then he seemed to realize it was his turn, and he jumped into my arms, crying anime-style tears. "Ella-sama!"

"Yeah, hey Freed, I'm here," I said. "It's alright."

"I missed you so much!" he cried. "You left me here with Laxus-sama and Levy-san and those _heathens_."

"Heathens?" Cana yelled.

"I'm cool with that," Bickslow said.

"What's a heathen?" Juvia asked Levy.

"Well, Juvia-san is alright," Freed hurriedly said.

I laughed and turned to Bickslow. "Come on, Bicks, give me a hug."

"I-" he started to protest.

I rolled my eyes and grabbed him into a hug. "I missed you, sweetie. How are your Soul Eyes, going?"

"Gramps says I'm doing well," he said quietly, hugging me back.

Yes! Awesome hugs!

"That's great!" I said happily.

He cheered up. "I know, right!"

Without his helmet, and as a kid…Ahh, why were all of these kids so damn cute!

I turned to Laxus. "Give me a hug."

"No. I'm twelve, Elle."

I glared at him. "Laxus, I want a hug."

"No."

I had gotten my hug fix from Bickslow, but now I needed one from Laxus too.

"Laxus, give me a hug."

He started sweating. "No."

"Dammit, Laxus!" I yelled, running at him. He started running away from me. "Get back here!"

Gildarts grabbed Laxus and planted him in front of me.

"Traitor!" Laxus cried.

I hugged him. "Quit being a damned tsundere and hug me back, stupid!"

"I'm not a tsundere!" he yelled.

"Yeah, yeah, keep telling yourself that."

Luckily, he gave in and hugged me back, before I finally let him go.

"Alright," I said, stepping back. "Normally, I wouldn't cut off my training-"

"That's bull!" Laxus yelled.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"You weren't training! You're wearing a bathing suit. You're probably off relaxing somewhere while we're working like dogs!"

I glared at him, and started gathering magic power. "You want to test that?"

Feeling the rise in my magic power (what was obviously a result of my training) had him nervous. "No. No, I don't want to test that."

I dropped the magic. "For your information, Laxus, I was on Tenrou. Do you know how fucking hot it is there?"

"No," he said.

"Well…hot," I said. "Hot as fuck."

Most of the kids sweatdropped.

"Anyway," I continued. "One of my emergency cards went off, so I went to pick up our newest guildmate. Everyone, this is Evergreen."

She waved shyly, and tried to hide behind me. "Hi…"

"Evergreen…" Cana said. "That's a pretty name! Can I call you Ever-nee-chan?"

"I want to call you Ever-chan!" Levy said excitedly.

Without me doing anything, the other girls were all over Evergreen, smiling and welcoming her to the family.

Juvia turned to me. "Onee-sama, can we find Evergreen's treasure?"

"Treasure?" Bickslow asked.

"Elle finds 'treasure'. She tends to give us some stuff," Laxus said.

I nodded. "I found a second set of ruins, but we don't have time to go through that stuff right now. For now, we'll just go through the jewelry from the first site."

I requipped it into a pile, and the girls went diving into it, looking for the right necklace for Evergreen.

"It should be green!" Juvia said.

"Juvia is right!" Levy said. "It's in her name!"

"But what shade?" Cana asked.

"Go for a lighter green," I said. "Like a bright emerald, or forest green."

"What type of magic does she have, Elle?" Makarov asked.

"Evergreen is going to be learning Fairy Magic, and she was born with Stone Eyes."

Makarov blinked. " _Really_?"

I nodded, before turning to the boys, who were standing at the side. "Freed, Bickslow – I'm counting on your help for this. She's going to need help learning, Freed, and Bickslow – Stone Eyes is a lot like Figure Eyes, it just...well...turns people to stone instead of controlling their soul."

They nodded.

"We found one!" Cana said brightly, holding up a green crystal. "Do you like this one, Ever-nee-chan?"

Evergreen started crying. "I like it very, very much. Thank you."

The girls smiled and hugged her.

I smiled. "Now, listen up, everyone!"

Everyone turned their attention to me.

"When I'm gone, my second command is in charge. That person," I pointed to Laxus. "Is Laxus. Is that understood?"

They nodded.

"While I am gone, Laxus is essentially me. Treat him…as if he is me. Alright?"

Cana smirked. "Oh, Elle-nee-chan!" she tackled Laxus.

"That's not what she meant!" Laxus yelled.

"Oh, fine, _Laxus-nii-kun_!"

"Onii-sama!" Juvia yelled, hugging Laxus.

"Laxus-sama!" Freed cried.

"Elle, fix this, right now."

I cackled, and threw a letter at Makarov. "Have fun until May!"

And then I teleported back to Tenroujima.


	26. Training, Part Two

**Chapter Twenty Six - Training, Part Two**

Near the end of March, I felt that I had learned all I could about my elements. Most of what we spent time doing now was building up my stamina (which had gotten pretty high since all this training started, but there's no such thing as too much, in this case).

I was plenty proficient in Earth already, and (thanks to Corvus's and Phoenix's help), Pluto and Mars. I was also doing pretty decently in Neptune and Venus, as well. Now I spent time combining them, and practicing building up more strength.

During the fight with Gildarts, I managed to pull of _Crack of the Earth_ by burning off six cards. I spent more time now lowering the number of cards, to as low as possible.

I've got it down to two.

As for the other elements…Venus and Pluto, I can do without any cards.

Neptune's and Mars's hardest spells are on about the same scale as Earth's, but even back then, it wasn't really an earthquake – otherwise all of Magnolia would be demolished.

But _Neptune's Tsunami_ and _Volcanic Eruption of Mars_ were definitely just as difficult.

I could do all of them (if I burn up a bunch of cards) but I can only _just_ manage to complete them – I haven't actually mastered them.

And I also didn't want to become too reliant on the cards.

Another thing I spent time on was Unison Raids, between my own powers.

It wasn't a true Unison Raid – technically, a Unison Raid is two people resonating at the same frequency and combining their magics together.

Since I was the only one doing it, it wasn't really a Unison Raid, but since I was combining two different elements, it could (in some cases) be considered as such.

I first started by learning how to summon two different (or opposing elements) at the same time. This burned through my energy fairly quickly as well, but it was hardest summoning opposite elements. That being said, I spent the most time summoning Venus and Pluto together, followed by Mars and Neptune.

Without casting any of the actual spells, I would practice simply summoning the elements – an opposite in each hand. Shadows on my left hand, and light on my right.

I'm going to say right now – it. Was. Hard.

I thought doing _Crack of the Earth_ was hard, but it wasn't.

Not compared to this.

Yeah, they were completely on different levels, but when it came to the strongest of the elemental spells, I could just put as much power as I wanted into it.

 _This_ was all about _finesse._

"Breathe," Corvus said. "Keep them separate, and sustain them. There are two different elements in your hands; you need to redirect the flow of your magic to them."

Breathing heavily, I pushed my magic separately.

"Now try," Corvus said.

Slowly, I brought my two hands together.

The goal was to keep both of the elements separate – to stop them from merging.

I held them side by side, straining to keep them separated. My body was shaking and my muscles felt tense.

"Keep going," Corvus coached. "You've got it! Now hold it."

Sweat was pouring down my sides, and I felt faint, struggling to keep them separate.

And then it was too much.

The elements slammed together and I dropped my hold on them completely, collapsing to the ground.

"Eight seconds," Phoenix said. "Nice."

I had managed to keep to elements separate for eight seconds.

I could feel my magical container gasping, feeling like it was one of my leg muscles after I had run a marathon – which Corvus and Phoenix had made me do.

Despite working on the two elements like this, I still hadn't tried out any of the combination spells, though I assume I would in time – I just hoped it was easier.

"I feel like I'm going to turn into mush," I gasped.

"Oh, stop being a baby and get up," Corvus said.

"No. No, I will continue being a baby, and stay down," I said. "Because I am turning into mush, and I want to."

Corvus rolled his eyes.

"Phoenix…" I whined.

"No," he said.

Phoenix has refused to heal certain things. If I got really hurt while we were sparring (broken bones, for instance, or a sprained ankle) he would heal it. He would not heal sore muscles.

Jerk.

No, I mean…I understand why, and I had to build them on my own, but it _hurt_.

Since they started fighting me, and we started doing hand to hand, I literally feel like I'm just their punching bag.

So despite how horribly exhausted I felt when practicing magic, I still preferred it over the sparring.

"Water," I said.

Corvus threw a water bottle at me.

It hit me in the face.

"Owie…" I whined.

"Oh, stop being a baby, you're nineteen."

"I'm nine."

"You can't pick and choose how old you are depending on the situation," Corvus argued.

I groaned. "You guys are jerks."

And so we continued our odd cycle of life.

Practicing magic, practicing sparring, and other things.

As I said, sparring was the worst – jumping all over the place to dodge fists and kicks and to get in the right position to hit back. And then it turned into the 'Let's Beat the Shit Out of Elle!' game.

We haven't done full on magical battles – we couldn't, not without someone supplying Phoenix's or Corvus's power. If they were to try to actively use their power in a full on fight, after being out so long, they'd probably end up back in the Spirit World immediately.

* * *

"We're going to play a new game," Corvus said one day, a few days before April.

Great.

"Yeah? What are the rules?"

"You need to run," Phoenix said happily. "And we get to chase you."

"And this is helping me…how?" I asked.

"You're going to use your power. The whole island is our gameboard," Corvus said.

"You know the jungles here a filled with monsters, right?" I asked.

"Exactly!" Phoenix said happily.

"I hate you guys," I muttered.

"We'll give you a head start!" Phoenix continued happily.

"We suggest you go now," Corvus said. "We'll come after you after we reach ten."

"One," Phoenix said.

"Two," Corvus said.

"Fuck!" I yelled, jumping into the shadows and moving away as quickly as possible.

When I was sure I was on the other side of the island, I left the shadows, looking around warily.

Corvus could follow me through the shadows, so I had to be careful.

I quickly doubled back and made my way in a different direction.

"You have to do better than that, Elle!" Phoenix sang.

Fuck, they were close.

I took off running again.

I didn't understand this game. They didn't tell me how I could win, and they didn't tell me what would happen when I lost.

Jerks.

They were probably just doing this because they wanted to mix things up and mess with me.

 _Be nice, Elle, they've been lonely spirits for most of their lives_.

Ugh, shut up.

"Elle!" Corvus shouted. "We're gaining on you."

Ahh, shit.

I took off again and ran through some bushes until I came to a stop.

"No…way…" I breathed in shock.

I had been so busy planning what happened _before_ the series started, I almost forgot what happened in the actual story.

Like who _else_ was on Tenrou Island.

"Stay back, please! I don't want to hurt you!" Zeref cried, holding out a hand.

His black magic went off, and killed the trees around him, though I was luckily far away enough from the blast.

I wonder, was I impervious to black magic?

 _Now is not the time to find out, Elle!_

"Don't worry, I won't come any closer!" I called. "My name is Elle."

"H-hello," Zeref said quietly. "I didn't realize that there was someone else on the island, otherwise I wouldn't have come."

"No, it's fine," I said. "I'm sure Mavis would have been fine with you coming to the island."

"M-Mavis?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, this is Fairy Tail's holy ground. She's our founder, and I believe she even met you. Isn't that right, Zeref?"

His eyes filled with tears. "Mavis…"

Oh, fuck, he's crying now.

Generally, I can deal with crying. But because of his damn curse I can't even hug him.

Ahhhhhhh, this was frustrating.

"Hey, don't worry, Zeref, everything is fine."

There was some rustling behind me, and Corvus and Phoenix entered the clearing. "Elle, you're supposed to be run-"

They paused upon seeing Zeref.

"This is supposed to be Fairy Tail's island," Corvus said coldly. "You do not bear the insignia. What are you doing here?"

"Corvus, stop it."

I turned to Phoenix. I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up, but I had to try. "Phoenix...can you heal curses?"

"Sometimes," he said, his eyes narrowing. "Why?"

"This is Zeref. He carries the Curse of Contradiction."

Phoenix's eyes widened and he looked at Zeref. "What did you do to anger Anhkseram?"

Zeref gave a dry chuckle. "A lot."

"Do you think you could do it?" I asked Phoenix.

He shrugged. "I've only been called out once, remember? I've never had a chance to try. But I'm willing to."

"To do what?" Zeref asked.

Phoenix walked past me and moved closer to Zeref.

"No, stay back!" Zeref yelled.

Phoenix ignored him and moved closer, holding out a hand and putting it on Zeref's shoulder. He closed his eyes and breathed in, before he began to glow.

My eyes widened. Was it really working?

This could solve most of our problems.

I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up.

All of a sudden, Phoenix gave a gasp of pain, and a rush of blackness raced up his arm, before he combusted back to the Spirit Realm.

"Phoenix!" I yelled, before turning to Corvus, who was shocked. "Corvus, go check on him!"

"What about-" he started.

"I'll be fine!" I yelled. "Go!"

He gave me one last look, and nodded, before disappearing.

"I'm….I'm sorry about your friend," Zeref said, crying.

"Phoenix is a Celestial Spirit," I said. "He should be okay."

 _He's the fourth strongest Celestial Spirit to exist (not including the Spirit King). He has to be fine_.

Yeah. Yeah. He'll be fine.

Corvus appeared next to me. "Phoenix will eventually be alright, but he will probably have to rest in the Spirit World for a while, maybe a week; possibly a year or two for you."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm just glad he's fine."

"I…I'm sorry, I'll leave this island…"

"No!" I yelled.

I hadn't even realized what came to my mind, but I had to ask.

"Please, I stay here for over another month. Teach me magic!"

"But…my curse…"

"I know that you've taught others magic before," I said.

And look at the results – Mavis, with the Fairy Spells; Precht, as Master Hades; Warrod, as the Fourth Wizard Saint; and Yuri – who might not be there anymore, but look at his son. Makarov is a Wizard Saint, too.

"Please, teach me magic," I begged. "I won't get too close, I promise!"

"Are you insane?" Corvus hissed.

"Please," I continued, ignoring the spirit.

Slowly, Zeref nodded, before smiling. "Alright. If you really wish so…I'll teach you magic."

Staying a few yards away, we walked back to the library.

I couldn't help remembering how powerful the group was after Zeref taught them magic. Especially Warrod, making a huge fucking tree grow out of nothing.

This would be hard, I was sure of it, but I was here to train.

So I'd train.

* * *

Corvus was not happy that I was training with Zeref.

He spent all the time he could watching us, making sure that Zeref came no closer than a certain distance.

It was sweet, but kind of annoying.

Mostly sweet though; until this life, I've never had anyone protective of me.

"How did you know my name?" Zeref asked, as I held five elements floating around my head. Each one was in the shape of a tight sphere, trying to practice control; tiny balls of light, shadow, water, earth and fire.

"Hmm?" I asked, keeping my eyes closed.

"When we first met, you knew my name," he said. "And about Mavis."

"Oh. Well, I'm from another universe," I said.

"Another universe?" he asked.

"Mmmhmm," I said. "You see, in that universe, there's something called String Theory, where a universe exists for every possible reality."

My hands tightened – I'd already been holding the balls like this for several seconds, and now it was starting to get difficult.

"And this is another reality?" he asked.

"Yep," I said. "I chose this reality for a series of reasons, but mostly for my guild."

"Fairy Tail?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said quietly. "I was in the system in my other life, and I didn't have anyone. I was alone. Fairy Tail has always been about family, and I wanted that. I wanted people who would fight for me; hell, I wanted someone to fight for. I didn't even have that, before. So I chose here, I decided to learn the most powerful magic I could, and get as strong as I could to protect my family."

Zeref was quiet, before he said, "I have a brother, you know."

"Actually, I do," I said quietly. "You know of the plan to bring them to the future, right?"

"The dragon slayers? Yes."

"The Eclipse door will be opened in less than five years," I said. "Natsu will end up joining Fairy Tail. If you stay in a specific place, I can send you pictures of him growing up, if you'd like."

Zeref said nothing.

I opened my eyes.

And…he was crying. Again.

Dammit.

"It sounds like a wonderful place," he said, crying. "Fairy Tail."

"It is," I said.

"I wish I could join," he said. "That I didn't have this curse and that I could join at Natsu's side."

I mentally snickered as I pictured Makarov telling the Magic Council that the Black Wizard Zeref was joining Fairy Tail.

"Maybe someday you can," I said. "There's a huge library here; when I'm gone, I suggest you research. I'll look into it on my end."

He smiled softly. "Thank you, Elle. And your concentration is letting up."

Looking at my spheres, I could see them start to misshapen, as if they were melting ice cream. Quickly, I focused my power into them and perfected them into nice, perfect spheres.

"There you go," Zeref said.

"Would you mind, staying on the island?" I asked.

"I suppose not," Zeref said. "I will stay."

I smiled. "Awesome!"

My concentration broke because of my excitement, and I was hit by a bunch of flying, misshapen spheres.

"Dammit!"

* * *

 **Elle returns home after this; these two were the training chapters. The next chapter should be up sometime tomorrow.**


	27. Reedus

**Alright, everyone, enjoy your _super_ long chapter. Seriously. This thing is a monster.**

 **And, I got a bit confused about Reedus's age so I took him out from where he showed up before and put him in here.**

 **Also...**

 **I HAVE NO REGRETS!**

 **I'm not sorry.**

* * *

 **Chapter Twenty Seven - Reedus**

I ended up going back early.

Juvia's birthday was at the end of April, so I decided to go home early – there was no point in stopping by for Juvia's birthday and then returning a few days later for my birthday.

So I said goodbye to Zeref, popped home, and unpacked.

Finally feeling back to normal, I dressed in my regular clothes and walked to the guild, taking in the beautiful forest and the air of Magnolia.

I had missed this place.

Reaching the doors, I kicked them open. "I'm baaaaaaaaaack!" I sang.

The kids, who were all eating breakfast, perked up.

Honestly, there were so many people shouting different variations of my name that I couldn't even pick them out any more. Now it was just a huge cacophony.

I was mobbed into a group hug (with the exception of Laxus) before Makarov pulled me out of the pile with his Titan Magic. "I know you're all excited to see Elle, but I need to speak with her privately," he said.

I smiled. "Alright. Guys, finish up your breakfast."

Makarov set me down and led the way upstairs to his office. I sat on the couch while he moved to his chair.

"Elle," Makarov said.

"Yep?" I asked.

"Tell me about your previous life. From the other universe."

At that, I froze. I had been expecting a conversation about the letter I had thrown at him. I hadn't told him I was from another universe. Had I?

I couldn't remember.

"It's funny," I said quietly. "But I don't think I remember telling you that."

"Because you didn't," Makarov said calmly.

"I told him!" said a perky voice, and I turned to see Mavis Vermillion. She smiled at me. "Hello, Elle, it's nice to finally meet you in person!"

"Oh," I said. "You were listening, on Tenrou, weren't you?"

Mavis nodded, smiling. "And it really warms my heart that of all those possibilities, you chose this guild as your home. But why don't we fill in Third a bit more?"

I nodded, before I took a deep breath.

"My name is Eleanor Rigby. Honestly, I didn't have a name, originally; I was just a child left on a doorstep."

"The Matron at the orphanage was old fashioned, and ended up naming me Eleanor, after a famous woman she respected. Her husband was much more famous, but _that_ Eleanor did all the work. When I had to be given a last name, I ended up with Rigby, because there's a famous song about a girl named Eleanor Rigby."

I gave a sad smile. "The song is about being alone, and I guess for my first life it fit me pretty well. I was alone. I moved from orphanage to foster home to many different places, each horrible in their own way. Finally, at around the age of twelve, I ran away. I found an abandoned apartment to live in, and managed to get a job."

"My refuge was in stories. I would spend time reading, or watching television. And almost all of the stories had very close familial bonds, but one stood out to me the most."

"It was called Fairy Tail, and it was about a wizard guild in the kingdom of Fiore. And it was a family. It was what I always wanted."

"I ended up obsessed with it," I continued. "I fell in love with the stories, the characters; the lifestyle. I'll admit, my life was difficult, but I could deal. I was exhausted from all my working, but then I would think about this guild; of belonging here and going on a few jobs every once and a while and having a family, and honestly, it was better than I ever lived. I wanted to be a part of the guild. I wanted to wake up, and go about my day, fighting for my nakama."

"But it was just a story, and I went about my life as normal. Then, one day, walking to work, I ended up in a car accident, and I died on my nineteenth birthday."

I smiled at them. "It was the best thing that ever happened to me. There's a theory, in my old universe, called String Theory – it's the belief that if it's imagined, it exists, in some reality, somewhere. Even fictional realities. Even though this was just a story, I could become a part of it. Somewhere, from the point of time I appeared in this world, another universe was created off the main timeline – the one I know. And that's this world, with all the changes I've made."

"You should have told me, my child," Makarov said, and I realized that it was the first time he called me that. "I was worried, especially about your intentions. And the way you act."

I gave him a bit of a sheepish look. "I never really got a chance to be a child last time around, and I'm guessing that getting physically de-aged made me mentally regress a bit, too. I know I'm a bit reckless, and I'm trying to think things through a bit more…"

He sighed. "As long as you try." Then he froze, as if realizing something. "Are you saying that all of my problems are caused by the person who created this universe?"

I shrugged. "Essentially. His name is Hiro Mashima, if you want to curse his name or something."

"DAMN YOU MASHIMA!" Makarov yelled, before leaving his office.

Not actually expecting him to do that, but I probably should have.

Mavis and I exchanged glances, before following Makarov out onto the balcony. "Listen up, everyone!" he announced. "I now know the name of the one causing all of our problems. Every problem, no matter how small, is caused by a man named Hiro Mashima. I cannot currently explain _how_ he is able to cause all of these problems, but they are all caused by him. That being said, DAMN YOU MASHIMA!"

I mentally shrugged. _Eh, why the hell not?_

"Damn you Mashima!" I shouted.

"Damn you Mashima!" Most of the kids shouted.

"DAMN YOU MASHIMA!" the guild shouted.

My face was smiling so hard it hurt. No one particularly knew what was so funny about this, but it was honestly priceless.

* * *

After breakfast, we all conveyed in the training room (all being me, the rest of this kids, Macao, Wakaba, Gildarts, and the Master (who would do paperwork in the corner)).

However, there was one new person.

"Hello, Reedus, it's nice to meet you, how is your Picto Magic coming along?" I asked.

Reedus seemed frozen.

At the time, Reedus was a lanky teenager. I had thought that Reedus was part of the older generation, like Macao and Wakaba, but Reedus had actually just turned sixteen in January, and joined sometime a few weeks ago.

Since he seemed to be about in the middle of both age groups, he would spend most of the time in the training room, (though he spent more time of it drawing and painting than actually training).

While he would still end up in the guild hall, and paint all of the crazy rowdiness, he preferred being in the training room with the rest of the younger generation (and you know…Makarov doing paperwork, Macao, Wakaba and Gildarts who have nothing better to do than to play around with children and sometimes Enno when she got tired of being hit on by everyone in the main hall, and she would just rather practice her music magic).

Speaking of Enno's magic, I finally realized I had no idea what magic she had, and asked around so I could find out. She had a set of pan flutes she would use that could put people to sleep, and even control other people around her (and their magic!). In addition to that, her dancing magic, like Vijeeter's, would enhance her own and her teammates powers, while weakening an enemy's.

"I'm sorry," Reedus said. "But…how?"

"Elle just sort of knows things," Cana said, waving a hand. "Just go with it."

Reedus paused, then shrugged, and seemed to go along with it.

Something tells me he'll spend more time keeping quiet and doing art than actually getting active.

"Alright, I really missed you guys," I said. "I'm sure you've all got things to share, so let's go around in a circle."

"What's new with you, Elle?" Makarov asked.

I smiled. "You'll see when we're done. I'm going to want to fight someone, someone as strong as or stronger than me." I looked to Gildarts. "Would you be willing to fight me? I know that in a serious battle, I wouldn't be able to beat you, but I'd like to try, and see how far I've gotten."

He nodded. "Yeah, sure, why not?"

"Other than that, you've gotten taller," Wakaba teased. "You're growing up!"

 _I've gotten taller_?

' _Growing up_ '.

I realized that it was the end of April, and that my birthday would be coming up soon.

My birthday.

It's hard to believe that I've been here for almost a year.

Almost a year, and I've got a group of people that care for me. A family.

It's what I've always wanted.

When I was in my previous life, I had dreamed something a bit like this. Where I had a real family and I went away to college, and when I came back to visit it was all hugs and kisses and warm family gooeyness.

But then I would wake up, or the dream would dissolve back into the cold water of reality, and I would go back to being alone, with no one to care about me and no one to care for.

I might have been able to hold it back at Christmas, but I couldn't anymore.

"Ellie-girl? What's wrong, you're crying…" Macao said.

"I'm not crying, you're crying," I said, wiping away my tears.

"Who's the tsundere now?" Laxus asked.

I punched him. "Still you."

"Ow! _Fuck_ , Elle, that _hurt_!"

Makarov sighed. "Look at what you've done, Elle. My grandson can't stop cursing now."

"It would have happened sooner or later," I said, shrugging. I breathed away my tears and turned to the kids. "So, who wants to tell me what's new?"

"Oh, Juvia is turning six in two days!" Juvia said happily.

I gave her a smile. "I know sweetheart, that's why I came back early."

"I beat Laxus!" Cana bragged.

"For the last time, _I won!_ " Laxus yelled.

"It was a TIE!" everyone else (besides Reedus) yelled.

I couldn't help laughing.

"Oh, the Queen is pregnant!" Levy said.

"I know!" I said, smiling.

"How?" Cana asked. "You know what, never mind."

I turned to Bickslow and Evergreen. "How are you guys doing with your eye magics?"

Bickslow smiled. "I'm doing good enough I don't need to cover my eyes anymore!"

Does that mean he would never wear the helmet in the future?

"Isn't it 'well', not 'good'?" Levy asked.

"Yes, Levy-san," Freed said. "Don't let the heathens mix up your grammar."

"I'm almost at that stage!" Evergreen said excitedly, completely ignoring Freed and Levy's side conversation about the joys of grammar. "Soon I won't have to wear glasses anymore!"

"Nice…" I said. I turned to Gildarts and Cana. "How is your house? It better be habitable the next time I drop by."

"It's great!" Cana said. "We repainted it and everything, and Gildarts let me choose most of the colors!"

I turned to Macao and Wakaba. "What about you two? I heard you joined in on regular training. Are you stronger now?"

They smiled sheepishly. "Maybe a bit _too_ strong right now. We need to keep training; we don't have enough control over our magical power. We kinda broke a few buildings on our last job. Even got in trouble with the Rune Knights…"

Rune Knights.

Rune Knights.

 _Rune Knights._

"Fuck!" I yelled. "I forgot about Mest!"

Everyone stared at me.

"Who?" Makarov asked.

I ignored him. "Cana I need to make a card for another person, I can't believe I forgot him!"

"Calm down, Elle," Cana said, pulling out a blank card and holding out a hand.

"Who is Mest?" Laxus asked.

"Someone you'll meet in the next decade," I said.

After that I ignored him and made the card with Cana, before safely tucking it away in storage.

"Are you going to explain what all that was about?" Laxus asked.

"No," I said to him.

I turned back to Gildarts, "Has everyone tried using you as a magical battery, yet?"

He shook his head. "We don't feel that Bickslow and Evergreen are ready yet, though Bickslow can probably try by next month. Freed and Levy tried it a few months ago."

"What about the older gen?" I asked, jerking my head at Macao and Wakaba.

"We figured we'd let them get a hold on their own magic without letting them borrow someone else's destructive power," Makarov said.

I snorted. "And Reedus?"

"I am not ready," Reedus said quietly.

"Do you mediate every day?" I asked him.

He nodded. "Oui. I have been practicing, but I am having some troubles."

I smiled at him. "Give it time, Reedus. Picto Magic is amazing, and it's one of the magics I regard as most useful and well-rounded."

"What else do you consider?" Makarov asked.

"Well…" I said. "While Teleportation Magic and Location Magic are both extremely useful, I wouldn't exactly call them 'well-rounded'. But I would call Requip well-rounded – I can keep anything in my storage space, from weapons to clothes to first aid kits to magical objects. Even food. That's certainly handy. Other than that, I think that Card Magic and Solid Script Magic are both extremely handy, as well as (as I said) Picto Magic. You can get a well-rounded assortment of attacks, as well as everyday uses with them. I also find Maker Magic very handy, though it's a bit less because it's stuck with one element, and Rune Magic, because it allows you to create your own little worlds full of whatever rules you wish. With these magics, you can become as creative as you want. It's only limited by your imagination."

I paused. " _And_ your power strength. That's why we're going to work on increasing your magical container and stamina, alright Reedus?"

He nodded slowly. "Oui. I see."

I turned to the rest of the group. "Any other news?"

"Oh, hey Elle?" Laxus asked. "Do I get motion sick in the future, or something?"

"Trains?" I asked.

"Yeah…" he trailed off. "How do I get rid of it?"

"As far as I know, you never do," I shrugged.

"That's not what I want to hear, Elle!" he yelled.

I rolled my eyes. "I'll stop by Porlyusica's, see if she has any sort of special tricks. Or could make one. Alright?"

He breathed easier. "Alright."

"I will also help in this endeavor to cure Laxus-sama's motion sickness," Freed said. "Levy-san, we must develop a rune!"

Levy nodded.

"Anything else you guys want to share before Gildarts kicks my ass?" I asked.

"Now you're making me sound bad," Gildarts muttered.

"Actually, I do have one!" Freed said. "Ella-sama, I was wondering if we could meet those Celestial Spirit friends of yours."

Levy got all excited. "Yeah! I'd love to ask them about the Celestial World and other things!"

I sighed. "I'll see if Corvus will come out, but Phoenix can't. He's sick, and it'll take him a week to recover."

"Oh. Will you call him out next week, then?" Levy asked.

I shook my head. "I meant a week in _his_ time. He got sick earlier this month, and he probably won't be able to come out again until January of X775."

Freed had a shocked expression on his face. "Are you telling me that one day in the Celestial Realm is equal to about three months here?"

"That's exactly what she's saying," a voice spoke up.

Corvus, wanting to be all dramatic and the like, popped up out of the shadows.

"How's Phoenix?" I asked.

He glared at me. "Still recovering."

"I said I was sorry," I muttered.

"What could have been so bad that he'd spend a week recovering?" Makarov asked.

"Anhkseram Black Magic," Corvus said.

Makarov gasped. "Elle! Why would you try practicing that?"

"It wasn't _me_ who did it!" I cried. "Geez, it was Zeref!"

There was silence in the room.

I hadn't _meant_ to blurt that out.

"Zeref?" Gildarts asked. "The…dark wizard Zeref? From four hundred years ago?"

"Yes."

I couldn't really turn back now.

More silence.

"…Zeref?" Makarov repeated.

" _Yes_ ," I said.

"Elle, you can't blame all of your problems on Zeref," Makarov said. "It's one thing for this HIRO MASHIMA (damn him), but it couldn't have been Zeref."

"She's telling the truth," Mavis said, floating down to join the conversation.

There was a pause.

"What were you doing near Zeref?" Makarov shouted. "I thought you were on Tenrou Island?"

"I _was_ on Tenrou Island," I said.

"Why is Zeref on Tenrou?" he shouted.

"Stop shouting!" Corvus said harshly, and the noises stopped. "That's better."

I sighed. "He's upset with me because I'm the one who suggested that Phoenix try healing Zeref of his curse."

"Curse?" Macao asked.

"The Curse of Contradiction," Mavis said. "The more one cares about life, the more death energy they release. But if they have no regard for human life, they release none at all."

"Okay, I'm sorry, but who's this lady?" Bickslow asked.

She smiled. "I'm Mavis Vermillion! I'm the one who founded this guild."

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?" shrieked a large amount of people in the room.

I started laughing. "Oh, you guys should see your faces!"

"Elle, you shouldn't joke about our founder," Laxus said.

"No, she's telling the truth," I said. "But your faces _are_ very funny."

Mavis stays the same age while everyone else grows. Everyone else is older in the future and she's thirteen – but she's still thirteen now, which puts her older than all of the newest generation, even Laxus.

Physically, at least.

Well, if we're counting Reedus as the older generation.

I'm still not sure about that; he's only four years older than Laxus, and six years older than me.

"Anyway, that's not why I'm upset with you," Corvus said. "I'm upset because after all that was said and done, you went and asked him to teach you magic."

More yelling.

I shrugged. "What? Mavis did it!"

"Elle, you can't just ask the Dark Wizard Zeref to teach you magic!" Makarov said.

I looked at him. "You do know that Zeref was the one who taught your father magic, right? And Master Precht and Warrod, along with Mavis. If it wasn't for Zeref, Fairy Tail might not have even been formed."

"She's right!" Mavis said excitedly. "The five – well, um, four – of us were attacked by the dark wizard guild Blue Skull, and were recovering in the woods. I ran into Zeref when he was bathing, and saw his curse in effect. Seeing how powerful he was, I asked him to teach us magic, so he did!"

"The Dark Wizard Zeref…taught you magic," Makarov said.

Everyone else was speechless.

"Mmhmm," Mavis said.

"And…my father?" he continued.

"Yep!" Mavis said. "Precht got it first. But then later that night, Yuri figured out that he had to meditate while exercising, because he's hyper, otherwise he wouldn't be able to focus. That was when he got it. Warrod took the longest, but Zeref suggested a different method for him and it worked."

"I saw how powerful the four of them were, and wanted some of that tutelage of my own," I said. "I mean, hell, Warrod is a Wizard Saint now. And Mavis, despite being…well…I mean, look at her. She seems as real as we do. Nothing like how you'd imagine a ghost would be!"

"A ghost!" most of the kids yelled.

"Fairy Tail was founded almost a hundred years ago, guys," I said. "It's amazing that Precht and Warrod are even still alive."

"Elle is right!" Mavis said. "This year is my 100th birthday!"

Silence…

"Really, congrats!" Cana's voice cracked, but she still seemed to get her voice back first.

"Was Zeref scary, Onee-sama?" Juvia asked.

"No, not really," I said. "He was sad. Spent most of the time crying. I told him about you guys, and about how much I love Fairy Tail…why I came here in the first place."

I saw the dawn of recognition in Makarov's eyes.

"He said that he wished he didn't have his curse, and that he could walk in with his brother and join."

I turned to Makarov. "I can't help imagining the Magic Council's face if you went to them to tell them that the Dark Wizard Zeref joined your guild."

I laughed at the look on his face.

"Zeref has a brother?" Laxus asked curiously.

 _Shut up!_

I nodded. "Mmmhmm. He died hundreds of years ago. He's the reason why Zeref was cursed, actually."

 _Dammit!_

"What do you mean?" Gildarts asked.

Oh fuck it.

 _JUST DON'T MENTION HIS BROTHER'S NAME, IDIOT._

"Well, Zeref had a younger brother. But one day, while he was at his school, a group of dragons attacked their home, and killed his family. His parents were gone, but his little brother's body was intact. So he looked for a way to bring him back to life."

"Back…to life?" Levy asked.

"Yes," I said. "That's what all his creations were. The Etherious – his demons – started out as tests he made, in order to bring his brother back. The R System, as well, was one of his ideas – a way to bring someone back from the dead. But he abandoned it when he realized he would have to trade a life for a life."

"Eventually, however, Zeref was cursed through his research, and then he started making his demons more and more powerful. He hoped that eventually he'd be able to make them strong enough so that one day, they'd be able to kill him."

There was silence.

"It certainly paints a different picture of him than most think, doesn't it?" Mavis said.

I turned to her and smirked. "Oh, we all know why you care so much. You _looooooooove_ him."

She blushed. "Ahh, shut up Elle!"

"No way, the two of you were totally in love; don't even try to deny it. Whenever I would mention your name he'd get this super fond adorable smile on his face."

Her blush deepened, but she smiled. "D-did he?"

"Mmmmmmmhmmmmmmm," I said, sliding up next to her, my eyebrows hopping up and down.

Corvus sighed. "I don't even remember why I came out here in the first place. I'm going back, Elle. Goodbye."

And then he disappeared.

"Well, he's…um…" Macao started.

"Antisocial, I know," I said. "We're working on it. It's better when Phoenix is here, he's able to draw his older brother out more."

"Is Zeref still on Tenrou Island?" Makarov asked.

"Yes, I asked him to stay there. I figured if it was up to anyone about kicking him off it, it should be Mavis. After all, she _loooooovees_ him. Also she founded this guild and it's technically her island."

"I thought it was the guild's holy ground," Freed said.

"Yeah, but we were only able to claim it as holy ground because Mavis was born there and was the only inhabitant for a large part of her life."

"How large?" Levy asked.

"Seven years," Mavis said. "When I was six, the Blue Skull guild raided the island and killed them all. I didn't leave until I was thirteen, when I met Yuri, Warrod and Precht."

 _Seven years, huh?_ I thought. Aloud, I said, "Well, if we're done catching up, I would like my fight now."

Gildarts shrugged. "Okay. But uh, just so you know, being a magical battery is actually a really good way to increase magical strength. So, I'm stronger too."

Lovely.

"Well, then maybe we'll all try being magical batteries," I said.

"Are you sure about this?" Laxus whispered as well all moved outside.

"Do I _look_ sure about this?" I asked him.

He took a look at my face and opened his mouth.

"Don't answer that."

"No, you don't look sure."

"Laxus, I said _don't_ answer that."

"I know, but I wanted to do it anyway." He smirked.

We reached the training grounds and Freed put down some runes for safety. Bickslow and Evergreen, who had yet to _really_ see me fight, waited excitedly with the others. Reedus seemed a bit wary about watching the fight.

"Whenever you're ready," Gildarts said.

This was a _real_ fight – Gildarts knows more about my magic now (not everything, since I just learned three new elements) and he isn't handicapped with Freed's runes.

I nodded. "I'm ready."

" _Crush_ ," he sent out a wave of his crash energy at me, and I immediately whipped up my magic.

" _Venus's Reflective Shield!_ " I shouted, and a wall of pure light energy formed in front of me. His magic hit it and sent it back at him.

There were pros and cons to Venus's and Earth's different types of shields. For one, Earth's takes a lot less power to use – I'm not forming the element out of my own magic; I'm raising the ground; simply _manipulating_ the element.

But Venus's shield can be used just about _anywhere,_ as long as I have enough energy to sustain it.

And it's a lot purer, so it would hold up a lot better against things like Zeref's demons.

"Onee-sama, that's so cool!" Juvia said happily.

"What is that?" Reedus asked, as he frantically tried to draw it.

"Ella-sama has a type of lost magic, called Planetary Magic," Freed said. "Before she went training, she could only utilize the planet Earth, which is associated with the element earth, though she was able to use Pluto a little bit. Because she needs to surround herself in the environment specific to that element in order to learn it, she went to Tenrou Island to learn some other planets."

"What's Venus's element?" Evergreen asked.

"Light," Gildarts answered, dissolving his own attack.

I smirked, dropping the shield. "What can I say? It's pretty sunny on Tenrou."

Then I slammed my hands downward and shouted, " _Fury of Mars!"_

A wave of fire went directly to Gildarts and surrounded him, attacking him from multiple directions.

As he fought that off, I muttered, " _Pluto's Body_ ," and jumped into my own shadow, before jumping out of Gildarts's shadow.

" _Venus's Sword!_ " I shouted, a long light-based sword growing out of my right hand. With a well-placed swipe, I slid the sword through his chest.

A burst of power connected as he tried to move away in time, and we both ended up flying many meters apart, onto the other sides of the field. Deep gashes were left in the ground from the pressure of moving Gildarts back.

A distant part of me wondered how I looked. I was still covered in Shadow Magic, but holding onto a sword made of light.

"Two elements at once, Elle? And opposites, at that," Gildarts said, impressed.

I shrugged. "Corvus is a slave driver."

It had taken the longest amount of time to get that down, and originally it was just me jumping out of my opponents shadow while requipping a sword.

However, Corvus made me (eventually) switch that out for the Venus spell, because I can choose what happens to my opponents when I hit them.

The deeper it goes into their body, the more control I can have over them.\

And also, it looks cooler.

Gildarts seemed to realize I had done something as he tried to move, and couldn't. "What did you do, Elle?"

"If I hit my opponent with _Venus's Sword_ ," I said, "I can do whatever I wish to them. The deeper the strike, the more power over them I have. For now, all I'm doing is keeping you still. However…"

An evil grin grew on my face and I changed the magic I was running through him.

And then he was on the ground, a high pitched noise coming from his throat.

"What are you doing to him?" Cana cried.

"Relax, I'm just tickling him," I told her.

It was true. Gildarts was rolling around on the ground as my sword activated on his nerves, tickling him like crazy, and his keening noise slowly became a type of wheezing laughter.

"Isn't it great?" I asked.

Despite the fact he was on the ground, laughing his ass off, Gildarts still managed to get up, laughing, and held out his hand to me, preparing a spell. Still shaking, he said, " _All Crush_."

The wave of explosive power hurtled towards me, and I cast, " _Venus's Reflective Shield!_ " again.

And then a shock ran through my body right as the attack hit, and my power faltered.

And then everything went black.

* * *

When I woke up, I was lying on an infirmary bed.

"Gildarts, _All Crush_ is too much for the children!" Makarov was yelling.

"No, it's my fault," I said, holding my head as I sat up. "I didn't get my shield up in time. I still haven't gotten a hang of maintaining a light shield and the sword at the same time."

But _why_ didn't I? That was the question. Something had stopped me at the end, something that I had never felt before.

That was something I needed to check out.

I put it out of my mind for now, and turned to Gildarts. "However, the friendly sparring was to _test my skills_ not _knock me out_. I didn't even get to use all my new elements."

"You have more new elements, Onee-sama?" Juvia asked.

"What are they?" Levy asked. "We've seen you use Earth, Shadow, Light, and Fire."

I smirked. "I learned one more." Gathering my power, I said, "This is for you, Juvia. Happy Birthday!"

" _Wave of Neptune!_ " I shouted, and soaked Gildarts in a huge wave of water.

He stood there, dripping wet, and spit out a little water he had swallowed. "You done?"

I shrugged. "I'm cool."

"Onee-sama can use Juvia's element, too!" Juvia said excitedly, climbing onto the bed with me and hugging me.

"Yeah, sweetheart, after a lot of practice I was able to utilize water, too. I even have a spell that allows me to breathe underwater."

Juvia paused her bouncing a bit, before she began a bit more excitedly. "Juvia will develop a similar spell, too!"

I laughed and ruffled her hair, which was down in waves. She seems to have completely ditched the curly hair she had when I met her.

She looked cuter this way, anyway.

Honestly, I never thought I would end up so close to Juvia, but I love it.

"So are we good to go?" I asked.

Makarov sighed, and nodded.

"Alright everybody, to the training room! I have things we must discuss."

* * *

The kids (and Reedus, Gildarts, Macao, and Wakaba – who apparently have nothing better to do than spend time with kids) followed me down to the training room, where I sat.

"Cana, I need four blank cards," I said. "And you ought to be able to reuse them when I'm done."

She nodded and handed them to me.

On one I scribbled _1_ and another _2_. I put that pair aside.

On the next one I wrote _Pisces_ and then _Gemini_ , and put those two in a pair aside.

"Alright, Cana, Freed. I want you to each grab one from the pile in front of you. Then you get the left over card from the other pile."

I pushed the cards with numbers on them to Cana, and Freed the cards with the Zodiacs on it.

Freed and Cana exchanged glances, and each picked a card.

"I got 1," Cana said, confused.

"I have…Pisces," Freed said, looking even more confused.

I smiled and began to explain. "I have two more treasure sites I need to visit, and I decided to bring one of you and Laxus along with me for those. Cana, we'll be going for Gemini first. We'll probably do that this month. Freed, at some point at the end of July, we'll be going after Pisces key, alright?"

They nodded.

"This is gonna be super cool!" Cana said excitedly.

I smiled. "I'm glad you're going to like it. Now, though…" I turned to Makarov. "Have you chosen?"

He nodded. "Gildarts asked to sit out." He turned to all of us kids. "Now, I'm sure you've all heard of the Grand Magic Games…"

"Yeah, it sounds like a lot of fun, Jiji!" Laxus said. "I can't wait to watch!"

"You won't be watching, my boy," Makarov said. "You'll be _participating_."

There was silence. Then…. "WHAT?"

I laughed.

"Two teams from each guild are allowed. One of Fairy Tail's Teams will be comprised entirely of your generation," Makarov said. "Each team has five members. I would like Bickslow and Evergreen to sit out, and have Freed as the reserve. Is that alright?"

Bickslow and Evergreen nodded.

"I don't know how to fly," Evergreen said. "And I've spent more time on controlling my Stone Eyes than on learning Fairy Magic."

"The only soul I have is Papa," Bickslow said. "And while I've practiced getting stronger, I haven't really tried any of the attacks."

Makarov looked at Reedus. "I haven't placed you on either team because I wasn't quite sure where you fit in Elle's schematics of 'generation' but I also feel as if you aren't ready for the games yet."

Reedus nodded. "Oui. Merci. I would have asked to be withdrawn if chosen."

Makarov turned to Levy. "Levy, are you alright with participating? We can move you to the reserve, if you prefer."

"I think you should participate, Levy," Freed said. "You have much more offensive attacks then I do."

"Are you sure?" she asked.

I knelt down next to her. "You'll do great."

She smiled. "Alright, I'll do it!"

"That's the spirit!" I said. "Now, the GMG starts on the 1st of July! So we've got to train, guys. Train, train, train! Also, at some point, I would like to try teleporting more than two other people, because I don't know if I can carry all five of us if something happens."

Everyone nodded.

"Great," I said. "I also have a few stops to make and things to do."

"Alright, have fun!" Makarov said.

I waved and teleported away.


	28. Porlyusica

**Chapter Twenty Eight - Porlyusica**

In front of me was an odd house out in the woods.

When I say 'house', I really mean 'hollowed out tree a hermit thought was a good place to live in'.

I took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"Go away!" came an angry old voice.

"Porly, it's me!" I said.

The door opened and Porlyusica stared at me. "Don't call me that."

I rolled my eyes. "I wanted to talk to you about a few things."

She held the door open farther and let me walk in. "Well?" she demanded.

"Oh, calm down. You'll be happy to know that I can make the potions perfectly now," I told her.

An eyebrow rose. "You used them?"

I nodded. "Yeah, when I was training."

"And how did that go?" she asked.

"Well, that's one of the things I wanted to talk to you about," I said. "First, I was fighting earlier, and my magical power kinda…well, it would have kept running, but some sort of shock went through me. I was hoping you could give me a check-up."

She nodded and started doing a bunch of things that I didn't understand. "What else? I know this isn't the only reason you bothered me."

I chuckled. "Well, Makarov knows now."

Porlyusica, who was from Edolas, could tell I wasn't originally from this world, even if I do have a magical container and she doesn't.

"Good, you should have told him from the start." She froze in her machinations, before she started up again, running around and grabbing things. "You are a very, very lucky girl, Eleanor Rigby."

"What?" I asked. "Why?"

"Because you caught it early."

"Caught what?" I asked. "You know what's wrong with me?"

Porlyusica paused. "Yes. To put it simply…you have too much magical power in your body. If you can't drain it, you'll die."

 _Too much magical power…_ I was reminded of Ultear. She had that problem as well.

"So what do we do?" I asked her.

Ultear had obviously survived. Though I didn't fancy getting tortured by those psychopaths and Brain.

"Magical Overload is a difficult thing to handle. There's some potions we can use as a substitute for now, but we need something that will restrain your magic. And simply locking it away wouldn't do. It's not like we could just use magic-inhibiting cuffs or anything. You need something that _actively drains_ the magic from your body."

"For how long?" I asked.

She shook her head, passing me a potion, which I started drinking. "I'm not quite sure. I don't think Gildarts's stopped until he reached his mid-teens. It could be four or five years, at least."

I finished the potion, then handed the empty bottle back to her. "Gildarts?"

She nodded. "Yes, Gildarts had a bit of trouble with magical power. Honestly, it's one of the reasons that most people wait to teach their children until they reach a certain age. The only exception being Slayers, as their bodies are actually biologically changed to sustain more of their power."

I paused. "Does that mean the rest of the kids are going to get this, too?" I screeched.

"It's possible," Porlyusica said. "It depends on the type of magic, and the person. If they're born with the magic, they usually don't need to worry."

Well, that crossed out Juvia, Bickslow and Evergreen. Laxus was safe because he was a slayer. But Cana, Levy and Freed were still a possibility.

"However, if they're not born with it, they need to be monitored."

"You said magical cuffs that actively _drain_ magic, right?" I asked.

She nodded.

I requipped some of the ones from my requip space. "Like this?"

She froze as she took it in. "Where did you get this?"

I shrugged. "A magical store? An archeological site? I don't even know anymore."

She took it and nodded. "Yes. This is the type of thing that would work. You'll have to wear this for years, though. Over time, you can slowly start taking it off, and increase the amount of time you're not wearing it. That should help your body adjust faster."

"I don't know if you've heard about the Grand Magic Games," I said, clasping it on my wrist. "But Fairy Tail will be competing, and I would like you to come. If not to watch, then at least to stay in the hospital wing so you can help if we get hurt."

She raised an eyebrow. "You kids are competing?"

"Yes," I said. "Including me. Can I still do that with this?" I held up my wrist.

She nodded. "Yes. I suggest you take off the bracelet a few minutes before you perform. It will probably help to let your body refill natural for the games, and burn out your power that way. But you need to be careful, Elle, or you could get really sick. You can't use too much power at once. Also, I suggest you stop using those cards. Those might have triggered this as well. Meditate everyday, _with_ the cuffs on. Don't take it off or use those cards unless it's an emergency. While it actively drains magic, you'll still be able to use it, just on a much smaller level - enough for you to keep teleporting and requipping items as often as you do."

I nodded. Don't take off the bracelet, continue meditating and training with it on. Keep away from the cards unless it's a life or death situation. Make Cana and everyone else stop using the cards, and if I know that I'm going to fight, take the bracelet off a few minutes before. "Alright. Also, Laxus has motion sickness, so I was wondering if you'd be able to make a potion or patch that would fix that for him. It's really just a matter of restoring his equilibrium."

"I see." She nodded. "Very well, child, I will work on developing something for him. Is that all?"

"Well…one more thing..." I paused. "Do you promise that you won't hit me with your broom?"

"No," she said. "Spit it out, child."

"Are you Laxus's grandmother?" I blurted.

She got a look of shock on her face, before she sighed. "Yes, I am, actually. How did you know?"

"It was honestly just a guess," I said. "You came to this world at a young enough age to join Makarov on his team. In addition that, Makarov was in his sixties when Laxus was born, so that's a huge range of time for when Ivan was born. So I was wondering."

She sighed. "Honestly, it's probably my fault that Ivan turned out the way he did. If Makarov and I had married, then maybe he would have acted differently."

"Don't be ridiculous," I said. "Being stuck between two parents in a loveless marriage would be even worse for him. Nature and Nurture are split in half, fifty/fifty, on how they affect someone's personality. He could've turned out exactly like this, even if you had raised him together."

She took a deep breath. "It wasn't exactly loveless – I cared about that idiot very much, and I still do. And who knows, maybe if we had done it properly, we'd even be together. But we were drunk one night, and it was never really supposed to happen. After I got pregnant, there was just a lot of distance between us."

I nodded. "I see. Does Laxus know?"

She shook her head.

"You should tell him," I said. "He'd be happy to know."

"We have nothing in common," Porlyusica said.

"You're nakama," I said. "You'll find something in common."

* * *

After I left Porlyusica, I went back to the training room and spoke with Cana.

"Are you alright?" she cried.

"I'll be fine!" I calmed her down. "Don't worry. But Porlyusica told me how to find the signs, and we need to find a way to monitor some of you guys so the same doesn't happen to you, alright? Or so we can catch it, and you don't get sick. And remember - no more of the Recycle Cards."

Cana calmed down and nodded, and slowly made a card for herself, Levy, and Freed. Since Juvia, Bickslow and Evergreen were born with their magics, they were alright. Laxus had his lacrima, and Porlyusica said that they didn't really show up after the ages of ten or eleven, anyway. Which also meant that Reedus should be fine.

We finished the cards and I put them in my requip space so I could monitor them. I gave myself a mental note to make one for Lucy soon. Virgo said that Lucy's bloodline was really good with Celestial Spirit Magic, but I didn't know whether or not it counted as being born with it.

I sat at a table to rest and popped out the keys I found at Galuna Island.

After trying to simultaneously read _The Moon Maidens_ , which was the book Virgo gave me, and also fight hand to hand (with Phoenix reading aloud and me fighting Corvus), we realized that it would be better for me to do it on my own time.

So I put aside all of the Stellar things I wanted to do, and focused on my training.

Sitting at one of the tables, I spread out the keys and requipped _Spirit Compendium_.

I had found four keys at the island, and it was time to find out what they were.

The first one had a bunny on it, and I quickly matched it up to _Lepus, the hare,_ which seemed to be along the likes of the Canis Minor spirit - a spirit that was usually kept as a pet.

One of them I immediately moved to the side, because I couldn't tell what it was – it simply looked as if had chains on it.

The next one was the weirdest fucking bird I have ever seen (I think it's a bird), and I pinned it as _Apus, the Bird of Paradise_ , because I honestly had no idea what the fuck it was. Apparently it was good for illusions.

The next one looked a lot like the second one, actually, and, oddly enough, it had a bit of a black outline on it.

Quickly, I returned to the book, and read over something I had originally missed;

 _If the spirit is starred*, then it will have a black outline surrounding the symbol. This is because they're regarded as Legend Spirits._

Legend Spirits.

Suddenly, I knew what they were.

The one with chains I quickly matched up to _Andromeda, the Chained Princess_ , who was apparently very adept at Trap Magic.

The last one, which had footsteps on it, I matched to _Orion, the Hunter_ , who, like the Hunting Dogs, was extremely good at tracking. However, it also said that Orion worked best with his dogs ( _Canes Venatici)_ and that if one was to summon both, they could find anything.

I raised an eyebrow and requipped them to their storage place, adding them to the list of spirits I (and Lucy) had keys to.

I switched out _Spirit Compendium_ for _The Moon Maidens,_ and settled in for a read.

It didn't take me long to see what it could do.

There were multiple parts to being a Priestess of the Moon, and I could already tell which sister would probably excel at certain parts.

There were spells a bit like _Urano Metria_ , from an offensive distance. It was easy to tell that this would probably be best for Angel – or Sorano. She didn't like to get her hands dirty.

Yukino, however, would probably go for the most common (and most useful) type of magic – _Moonlight-Make_.

It was exactly what it sounded like – a type of Maker Magic, like Gray's.

Honestly, considering that you can solidify light and use it as a weapon, it doesn't surprise me that the same could be done for moonlight.

But there were a few extra bonuses with it – concentrated power of the moon is great for Dispelling. If used correctly, Moonlight-Make (or Moon-Make, for short), can easily dispel an opponent's spells.

As I said before, Sorano would rather stand back, and not get her hands dirty, which is why long distance spells seemed good for her. In addition, if strong enough, one could make an 'army' of spirits out of pure Moon Magic – like how I can make golems with one of my Earth Spells.

Yukino, though, was fine with getting down and dirty – she had done it before, and was fine with doing it again, and she was quite skilled at hand to hand. So I wouldn't be surprised if she utilized that.

"Do you have any questions?" Corvus asked, popping up beside me.

I shook my head. "No, I've got the gist of it. And I think this will suit them well, too."

"And the keys?" he asked.

"I'll admit that the Legend Spirits had me stumped for a bit, but I figured it out," I admitted. I requipped out one key. "This is Apus, right?"

Corvus nodded.

"Why are there so many birds, anyway?" I asked, requipping the key and the book away. Even though this was something I would normally be fine with, I could start to feel the drain on my magic, and understood what Porlyusica had said about the bracelet.

"I'm afraid I can't answer that," Corvus said.

"How's Phoenix?" I asked in a soft voice.

Corvus sighed. "He's doing better, and he might recover a day sooner, so you'll be able to see him-"

"Next November," I finished. "Or somewhere around there."

Corvus nodded. "Yes. And he's researching the Celestial Library to see if there's any way to reverse Zeref's curse."

I smiled. "Tell him thank you."

He disappeared and I was left staring at the training room.

* * *

"So, what exactly did you want to talk about?" Levy asked.

"Your progress," I said. "I want to talk over what happened while I was gone, and see how you've improved. Have you tried any of the things I asked?"

Levy nodded. "Yeah. Gildarts, Macao and Wakaba took us fishing earlier this month, and had the group of us use our magic to try and catch the fish. I'll admit I had a little trouble at first, but I got pretty good at making up spells on the spot! It's still harder the first time, and it takes about half as much more magic to cast it, but I've gotten the hang of it."

I smiled. "That's good. The better you are at adaptability, the easier it will be."

Levy smiled.

"Have you been practicing the other spells?" I asked.

Levy nodded. "Yeah, I have the regular list of spells down. Though I'm not quite sure how you came up with some of these attacks, they're really effective."

"Which one is your favorite?" I asked, smiling.

"I really like _Solid Script; Eggs_ ," Levy admitted. "It's really fun using it on the adults, especially because they're not really sure what's going on when that happens."

I smiled. "Yeah, I thought that one would be fun. Have you been trying out a lot of prank spells?"

Levy nodded eagerly. "Bickslow has been really helpful for that, too! Papa had some pretty good ideas as well, and I had a lot of fun coming up with ideas for spells with them. Some of them are really effective, and simple, too."

"That's nice," I said. "Good job, Levy. And you've been meditating as usual?"

She smiled. "Yep!"

"Cool," I said. "Can you send Juvia over next?"

As Levy left and sent over Juvia, I requipped one of my lists for her and started crossing some of the things off. I didn't expect all of them to complete everything I had on these lists, but they were mostly things I thought could help with their training. I was also trying to get this generation to focus a lot more on actually using their brains.

"You wanted to speak to Juvia, Onee-sama?" Juvia asked, coming up.

I smiled at her. "Yep. Sit down, Juvia. I wanted to ask how you were progressing in your magical attacks."

Juvia beamed, ignoring the chair across from me and sitting by my side. "Juvia's _Water Lock_ spans twenty feet! Juvia can only hold it at that size for two minutes, however."

I stared at how. "Wow. That's just...how the fuck...that's really impressive, Juvia."

"Thank you, Onee-sama!" she said eagerly. "Juvia has worked on expanding her attacks and on fighting multiple enemies!"

I chuckled and ruffled her hair. "I know I already said it, but wow, Juvia, that's really impressive. While I can do a little of a handful of elements, none of that is anywhere near as impressive as your progress."

Juvia blushed.

I smiled at her. "Send over Cana next, please."

Juvia went back to her meditating and Cana sat across from me. "Hey, Elle-nee-chan!"

"Hey Cana. This is about the cards I asked you to make when I was away," I said.

Cana nodded. "Yep, I've made them all!"

I was surprised at that. "Even the Memory Cards?"

Cana nodded. "Those were the hardest - and most of the cards are only prototypes now - but I really wanted to get that one done. Dad said he'd share memories of my mom with me through them, so I worked really hard. I've been trying to find a way to hook it up to a lacrima, but for now, it just projects the memory across a wall."

I smiled. "That's great! Perfect. And how quickly can you make a card?"

"In an emergency situation, it takes somewhere between thirty seconds to a minute," she said proudly. "And it depends on the card I'm making."

Cana already had sets of cards for all of her spells - this was only if she had to develop a new card in the middle of battle, because she had an idea. She had plenty of copies for all of her spells in her requip space.

"That's great," I said. "You can send Freed over next."

* * *

Eventually, I had finished going over everyone's progress while I was gone, and was left looking around the training room. We still had another five hours or so.

"Hey, Master," I said.

He looked up from his paperwork. "Yes?"

"I'm going to destroy part of the floor. Thought you ought to know."

He sighed. "Why, Elle?"

"It's for training," I said. "Have you ever heard of a balance beam?"

He shook his head.

I smiled and got up.

The kids (including me), were all extremely strong magically, enough so that we could probably easily go on jobs. But now it was time to spend time on our bodies, instead of just trying to land right. Especially because the GMG were coming up.

I went over to a barely used part of the room and said, "Hey, guys, I've got something new for you."

They all finished up what they were doing and came to my corner.

I knelt on the ground and concentrated.

Two thin beams solidified into rock, and slowly rose up, one higher than the other. There was about two feet in between them.

Underneath, I hardened the supports, all the way down to the basement. Then I softened the floor surrounding the balance beams so it wouldn't hurt as much if they fell.

"What's that?" Laxus asked.

"This," I said, climbing up on the shorter one. "Is called a balance beam. It helps with your balance."

I stretched on the beam and stood on one foot. "We've all trained our magic very hard, and now we need to start training our bodies. For now, I want you guys to practice your sense of balance. Your job? Walk across this beam without falling off."

"That sounds easy," Laxus scoffed.

"A lot of things sound easy, you damned tsundere," I said, "but it's not as easy as it looks, unless you're already magically nimble. First, you will practice walking across this. Then running across this. Then you move to the higher one. And then you jump back and forth."

I leapt to the higher beam, about a foot higher and about two feet away from me, and managed to land on my feet.

I was aiming to land on only one foot, but I already knew I had to work on my balance.

I mean, at least I didn't miss, and break my nose or something by jumping too short and slamming my face into the beam.

The beams are _hard_.

I should know - this is the second time making them.

"These beams are pretty hard, so be careful," I told the kids. "I made them by solidifying the earth. Also, I managed to soften the ground a bit underneath you, so if you fall, it won't hurt that much. Understood?"

They nodded, and I (completely and utterly showing off) did a roundhouse off the higher beam and landed on the floor.

My feet kinda hurt, but I showed no sign of it, and the kids looked at me with stars in their eyes.

 _Yeah….awesome older sister image is reinforced!_

After all, Gildarts just totally trumped me earlier, so I had to do _something_.

Honestly, roundhousing (or cartwheeling) off of a balance beam is a lot easier than most of the things you can do on it. It's easier than jumping from one balance beam to another, and it's easier than doing a regular cartwheel and trying to get your feet to land further along on the balance beam. Going from the beam to the ground is a _lot_ easier.

After some of the things Corvus made me do, roundhousing off a balance beam was a cake walk.

"So," I said, straightening up. "Who wants to go first?"

* * *

A few hours later, I had a written assessment of everyone's skills.

In order from youngest to oldest…

Levy had a very odd sense of balance. She couldn't walk across the beam without falling off, but when she tried running, she zipped across. Her sense of balance was a lot stabler the faster she was moving.

Juvia was a complete conundrum, because she didn't really _have_ a sense of balance, since she was made of water. Even when she practiced turning herself completely solid, she was unable to find her 'sense of balance'.

That being said, there was no chance of her _falling_ off of the beam. If she ended up coming off, she would easily maneuver her body into a new position. She could walk across the balance beam perfectly, but she didn't really have a _sense of balance_.

For instance, if you try to push someone off a balance beam, they would normally wave their arms and try leaning backwards and forwards so they don't fall.

Juvia didn't have to do that. She could just change her legs and end up in the same place.

So because of this, it _seemed_ she had a perfect sense of balance, when really she didn't know what balance was at all.

It gave everyone a headache just thinking about it.

So now I need to come up with something new for her to do...

But moving on…

Cana, like Levy, was much better when she moved faster. Unlike Levy, though she tended to be pretty nimble and balanced in the first place. Cana was the type of person who could easily jump from one beam to the other, and make it look like she was slowly hopping across, gliding through the air.

I was extremely jealous.

But when Cana moved fast, she wouldn't even use both feet. She would jump from one to the other, only setting down one foot before she was off again.

Something tells me she'll be pretty fine, so I need to find something else for her to do.

That was when I decided that I would eventually just make a bunch of gymnastic shit, but _moving on_.

Evergreen was not very good at her balance. She wobbled easily and fell off several times, and moving faster didn't help – it just made her slip, or fall off quicker.

So I reassured her, told her we'd work on it, and that she'd mostly just practice landing with her wings, which were made when I was gone.

But she would still try to get better balance, just in case.

Freed was horrible at balance, unless he was moving very, very slowly. His back was nimrod straight, and because of that, he had to calculate his precise movements. Trying to be fast, or nimble, only shut him down, and, like Evergreen, he fell off the beams many times.

Bickslow surprised everyone by how easily he moved around on the beam. I honestly don't know who was better at this – Bickslow or Cana. It could go either way. He could move extremely well, and ran across the beams as if they were his own personal jungle gym.

Which made me want to make some bars, next.

Laxus, who didn't want to go, was last, and only got up because I made him.

And he was doing an absolutely horrible job until I told him, "Try using your lightning body."

And then everything switched. Laxus became amazing at balance, and was practically flying. Even when he stopped using his lightning body, he still remembered it, and did a pretty good job running around on it.

And during the whole time Reedus just stayed far, far away from the balance beam, preferring to draw our attempts rather than attempt himself. For now, I just sighed and accepted it, but in the future, I wanted him to be able to get the hang of it.

So in order from most proficient to least…(for the kids, because I honestly stopped paying attention when Macao and Wakaba tried to do it and one of them tripped and landed in a split on the beam) the list is…

1\. A tie between Bickslow and Cana

2\. Me

3\. Laxus

4\. Levy

5\. Freed

6\. Evergreen

And Juvia was just an oddity I couldn't even put on the list.

Afterwards (because I didn't want to build the rest of the gym today), I took them through a series of stretches.

Both Juvia and I were able to do a perfect split. Cana was close, but not quite there. Levy and Evergreen gave up pretty quickly, and Freed didn't even attempt. Bickslow almost managed to do it, which was impressive, and Laxus just shook his head, though I have the feeling he'll probably try it in private, like the stupid tsundere he is.

Reedus tried a few positions, as long as he could still draw in them, and it turned out that he was pretty flexible.

It wasn't long before it was nearing evening, so we ate dinner together and headed our separate ways.

As I teleported away and got ready for bed, I couldn't help smiling.

When I was younger, we would pass a gymnasium on the way to school. I eventually got curious and snuck inside, watching what they would do.

And I was jealous. I was so _so_ , jealous.

But now I had a gymnasium, with my family, and it was going to be even better.

The only problem was…I didn't know how to make a trampoline.

* * *

 **I took gymnastics when I was younger (I fucking loved that damn trampoline), and for me, the easiest part was always getting off the beam, once I actually had the courage to do a cartwheel. I used to be scared I would miss the beam entirely and dive head-first into the ground.**

 **I know that this was kinda a filler chapter, and there will probably be a bit more fluff and filler before we can move on to the 1ST ANNUAL GRAND MAGIC GAMES!**

 **Anyway, as for Magical Overload - there was no real name on the internet so I made it up. Ultear got it when she was around Elle's age (Ultear's age isn't on the internet either, dammit), and I thought it would make a good connection on why so many people waited until around their pre-teens to learn magic.**


	29. Birthday Surprises

**Chapter Twenty Nine - Birthday Surprises**

While the trampoline was still a mystery, I made the bars pretty easily, though I had waited until I could get chalk.

So the next day, I taught the kids through using the bars (though not very well, because I'm much stronger in my legs than my arms) and made sure to remind them to put chalk on their hands first. I even put up a sign next to the pile of chalk.

While the kids were doing that, I got some rope and formed two circular rings. Tying them to the rope, I found a place to put them, and slowly began to make a different form of Venus's Reflective Shield.

These weren't reflective, and I didn't need an incantation – I was just solidifying the light magic into what I needed – a bit like maker magic, I realized. A series of steps floating around in a spiral appeared above me, and I started walking up them. It wasn't a staircase – just a number of platforms slightly higher than the previous one. It was easier to maintain, that way.

I reached the top and easily tied the ropes to a height that would be good for Gildarts.

Not that I would let him touch any of these things. No way; he'd destroy them all easily.

Making sure the ropes were secure, I traveled down the floating platforms and made a block that could be used as a stepstool for the shorter kids.

When all was said and done, we had our own nice gymnasium to use, and we all tried them every day (except for Reedus, who eventually decided he would prefer to be included in Macao and Wakaba's generation anyway).

Though no one was particularly good at the set of hanging rings.

* * *

The next day was Juvia's birthday, and a few days after that was mine.

After Freed's and Laxus's birthdays last year, we developed a new rule – everyone does what the Birthday kid wants (as long as, you know, it's not impossible, or illegal, or anything like that).

Juvia wanted to go swimming on her birthday, and some of the older members decided to join us. I led them to a nice swimming hole a few ways away from my house, and all of us kids jumped in almost immediately. Macao and Wakaba, who I swear, sometimes seem younger than the rest of us, got into a splash fight, and Enno hit both of them when they caught her up in it, when she was simply relaxing and floating in the water. Reedus sat on the edge of the swimming hole, and drew pictures of us having fun in the water. Gildarts joined us, too, but I gave him one of the magical inhibitor cuffs I now had to wear, so that way we didn't have to worry about destroying the swimming hole – especially since it's a good place for me to practice Neptune.

Even Makarov ditched his paperwork for a day, and joined us, and I suggested something a lot earlier. "Hey, Master, why don't we build a pool at the guild?"

His face lit up. "That sounds like fun. And also…"

"I know what you're thinking," I hissed. "Don't you _dare_ make that peephole."

He sighed. "Fine."

All in all, though, it was really fun, and the more courageous of us jumped off the top of the waterfall into the swimming hole. By most courageous I mean me, Laxus, Bickslow, and Cana. Juvia just did it because she can turn into a blob.

But Levy, Evergreen, and Freed didn't want to go near the top of the waterfall. Evergreen was afraid of being pushed off, though I think the only one who actually would get pushed off would be Freed, because Bickslow would want him to loosen up.

I also think Freed knew that, which was why he was staying away.

And of course, Reedus never got in the water in the first place.

All in all, though, it was a wonderful day, and we even spent some time meditating while we floated on the waves.

Then my birthday came, and everyone was terrified on what I was going to make them do.

I just rolled my eyes and used one of Cana's newest cards – the Memory Card - and copied my memory of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and finally the Avengers.

So we had a movie marathon.

And then I was demanded to make copies of all the 'weird dreams' I could remember.

* * *

"Please tell me you can move us closer," Cana begged.

I shook my head. "Sorry, but this is as close as we can get."

Around three weeks into May, I grabbed Cana and Laxus and took them to Gemini's location.

Unfortunately, it seemed as if Gemini's key was on a mountain, and there was not really any flat land I could put us on.

So instead, the three of us were at the base of the mountain, ready for a hike.

I took out the tack, which spun forward and a bit to the right.

I put it away, and started walking. "Come on guys, just be careful. It's probably in a cave, or something."

"You don't have any climbing gear?" Laxus asked.

"Nope," I said.

Cana caught up to us as we hiked up the mountain, which was pretty steep, but also easy enough to walk on. Where we were, it was mostly grassland, so I wouldn't have been able to really use the climbing gear until we got closer anyway.

Slowly, the grassland started being replaced by rock, and it became a lot harder to walk.

And it became cold.

"Why…" Cana was shivering. "Why is it so cold?"

"It's because we're nearing the top," I said. I requipped out a jacket for her, which she put on. In addition to that, I made a basic ball of fire that let off heat for us.

"Are we close?" Laxus asked. He tried to move closer to the ball without me noticing.

I rolled my eyes and brought out the tack again.

"Yeah, pretty close," I said. "Come on, let's keep going."

We continued up the mountain, and Cana asked, "How did the keys even get on this mount-"

The ground under us broke, and we all fell.

" _Fluffy Landing Card_!" Cana shouted, and threw a card below us. It exploded into a ball of fluff, which the three of us landed on.

"Nice save, Cana," I said. "But…uh...how do we get out?"

It was rather hard to get out of the fluff now that we were sinking into it.

"I'm not really sure, this was a prototype card," Cana admitted.

"You mean we're _stuck_ in a _cloud_?" Laxus asked.

I rolled my eyes. "I'll take care of it. Don't freak out."

I raised my hand, " _Mars's Wave of Agony_!"

"WAVE OF AGONY?" both Laxus and Cana shrieked.

The fire quickly burned through all of the fluff and we ended up on the floor.

"It didn't hurt," Cana said as the fire dissipated.

"Mmhmm," I said. "It's supposed to only work on enemies, going out from a wave in all directions from the caster. It's a pretty explosive spell, and honestly, I'm kind of eager to see it in battle."

"What about Gildarts?" Laxus asked.

I shook my head. "No, this thing is supposed to _hurt_. No way. I'll only use this against real enemies, or members of a dark guild or something."

"So why did you say 'don't freak out' instead of 'this won't hurt you, despite the name'?" Cana asked.

I shrugged. "I honestly didn't realize which spell I was going to use until I cast it. I just knew I was going to set the fluff on fire, and that it might freak you out." I turned to Cana completely. "In the future I want you to practice taking things back into your cards. That way you use less energy by reusing them, and you also have a way of escaping."

Cana nodded.

"Now, how do we get out of here?" Laxus asked.

"We…don't…" I said, looking at my hand, which held the tack. "It's in this cave."

"Really?" Cana asked.

I nodded and turned, going deeper into the mountain.

"It's getting dark, Elle, can you make another ball of fire?" Laxus asked.

"I've got something better," I said.

I requipped out a long stick and wrapped the end up and set it on fire.

"There you go," I said, handing it to Laxus.

He blinked, accepting it. "Why are you carrying around sticks?"

"NO QUESTIONS!" I shouted, turning deeper into the cave.

Laxus sighed as he followed me, Cana giggling along the way.

* * *

Eventually, we reached an opening in the cave, and we all stopped to stare at the things.

Let's just say that there were a lot of jewels this time.

"Wow, holy crap!" Cana said.

"Cana, you're six, please wait another year or two before you start cursing," I said.

Cana sulked. "Crap isn't really a curse word. It's not like I said the 'S' word or anything…"

I rolled my eyes. "Alright, here's how it's going to work. Gather things according to similar items, and I'll go around requipping. If you see something you want to keep, please tell me first. I have little reason to say no, and I want to have a full catalogue of everything I've found at the sites."

They nodded, and we split up. I went immediately for the Gemini key, which led me to, once again, the Celestial pile.

Next to Gemini's key were several others.

One, I recognized immediately; Scorpio.

Raising my eyebrows, I requipped the two Zodiac keys with the rest of the golden ones.

Next was a pile (literally, a pile) of silver keys.

Actually there were only three, but it was odd that they were in a pile.

Two of them were Legend keys, one which had a fist, and another which had lightning.

I could only assume that it was Hercules and Perseus, considering that they were both sons of Zeus and we were high up on a mountain.

I requipped it away (though I have made a separate section for the Legend keys) and looked at the last one, which had a lion.

I smirked, assuming this was Leo Minor – in other words…Loke's younger sibling.

That will be interesting to see.

There was one last key, and I recognized the symbol on it instantly, along with the key type.

Pegasus, one of the Platinum keys.

Nice….

With the keys all away, I turned and made my way back to the others, requipping new piles into my storage as I went.

"Elle!" Laxus shouted, and I sped up, running ahead to where Laxus was holding on to Cana, who was struggling to move forward.

"Let me go, Laxus, I just want to touch it!" she said, and she was staring at an odd, box-shaped object that positively _reeked_ of dark magic, something I was pretty good at detecting after a month with Zeref.

" _Venus's Sword_ ," I cast, and quickly swiped Cana across the chest with it.

Clarity returned to her eyes. "What…just…"

"You tried to touch that thing-" I said, pointing at the object, "and it positively reeks of dark magic. So I hit you with _Venus's Sword_ , and used it to purify whatever control it had over you."

"That's pretty handy," Laxus said, letting go of Cana. "But what do we do now? We should probably show it to Jiji."

I shook my head. "This is Celestial Spirit business." Quietly, I requipped out Corvus's key into my hand, and he immediately appeared.

"What is it?" he asked, before he noticed what we were all staring at. "Oh…"

With a sharp intake of breath, he went back to the Spirit World before reappearing with gloves.

"I'll be taking this with me to the Spirit World, for now," he said.

"Can you please get Crux to look at it, and tell me what it is?" I asked.

"I know what it is," he said darkly. He rounded on the group of us. "You are all very, very lucky."

And after that cryptic statement, he grabbed the box, and disappeared.

* * *

We finished collecting everything at the site, and I found a pile of lacrima orbs that fit the description Papa gave me. If I was right, then one of these would work for him, and then Bickslow also had extra for his other souls.

Cana really liked a small amethyst ring, which surprisingly fit her thumb. I let her keep it, and we returned home.

"Did you guys have fun?" Gildarts asked.

"Yeah, it was pretty fun, even though we fell into a cave," Cana said.

"How do you fall _into_ a cave, Onee-sama?" Juvia asked.

"We were standing above it and the ground broke underneath our feet. Cana saved our fall with one of her cards."

"Yeah, and then Elle gave us a heart attack when she cast one of her Mars spells," Laxus muttered.

I requipped the orbs and showed them to Makarov and Papa, who took them and traded out Papa's substitute for the real thing.

"Can you hold onto the others for me, Big Sis?" Bickslow asked.

I nodded. "There are seven more, just so you know."

"Other than falling, everything went okay?" Gildarts asked.

Cana hesitated. "Well…"

"WHAT HAPPENED!" Gildarts screeched. He rounded on me. "ELLE, YOU PROMISED YOU'D PROTECT MY BABY!"

"Calm down, Dad, she did!" Cana shouted.

Gildarts calmed down a bit, but he grabbed Cana and started hugging her.

"What happened?" he asked.

"We don't really know…" Laxus said.

"There was an unknown item," I said. "That reeked of black magic. Cana fell under its spell-"

"WHAT?"

 _FUCK, bad phrasing._

"Not an actual spell, but she seemed enchanted with it. Laxus managed to stop her from touching it until I hit her with my sword."

"Your sword?" Makarov asked curiously.

I nodded. "Yeah, _Venus's Sword_ lets me control the person I hit, remember?"

"You CUT MY DAUGHTER OPEN?"

"No! Jeez, calm down. I basically purified her body of whatever made her so attached to it."

"What did you do next?" Freed asked, the kids having come over to hear the story.

"She called Corvus," Laxus said. "And he took it to the spirit world."

"Give them awhile to deal it," I said. "I'll ask about it again sometime later this year."

 _Though for all I know, they won't be allowed to tell us anything about it._

* * *

Somehow I found myself outside the Heartfilia Konzern, even though I could have sworn I still had a few weeks before Lucy's birthday.

The door opened and I was glomped by a tiny child. "Ellie-nee, Ellie-nee! I'm six now!"

I laughed, and swung her around in my arms. Since we were spending so much time building our strength, and because Juvia and Levy, and hell, even Cana, liked being carried by me (though usually in piggyback rides), it was pretty easy for me to hold her weight.

Lucy squealed and I put her down. "Happy birthday, sweetheart. What's up?"

Lucy grabbed my hand and dragged me inside, and Layla, who had been holding the door open the whole time, laughed to herself and closed the door behind us.

"So many things, Ellie-nee! I can hold open three Zodiac gates and a silver one!"

My eyes widened. That was more than I expected.

Layla, seeing my look, began to explain. "You see, giving her Ophiuchus helped with her magical reserves. Before that, she had her four Zodiac keys, but she could only pull them out every so often, according to their contracts."

"Ophiuchus said he can come out whenever I want!" Lucy said excitedly.

"In addition to that, she summons her spirits for specific things. Virgo, for everyday needs, which is why her gate ends up open the most. Cancer, to play dress up and do her (and even my) hair," Layla continued. "Aquarius, for swimming lessons, and Taurus, for sparring with some other mages."

"I see," I muttered. "Since Ophiuchus is a golden gate, and takes a bit of power to open, summoning him so often has helped."

Lucy nodded. "Ophiuchus is really smart, too. Sometimes he'll just come spend time with me, and we'll read stories, or do homework, and he's really really smart!"

"It's nice to have a helper," I said. "But make sure there's no cheating."

Speaking of which, I was probably going to have to incorporate things like math into the usual lessons with the kids.

Or, some sort of school work.

Except mages tend to be a lot more mature (with the apparently complete exception of Natsu, and Sting), so they probably already know math.

Oh well, I'd worry about it after the Games. They were in a month, after all, and the kids we're focusing on training for now (you know, with exceptions for birthdays).

Lucy nodded. "Don't worry, he doesn't let it happen."

"Good," I said. "Now, do you remember some of the things we discussed?"

She nodded. "No Monoceros yet, I understand. And no Zodiac either."

"Well…" I said. I turned to Layla. "Do you think she'll be able to hold all four gates open before Christmas?"

"Honestly, I'd be a bit surprised if she couldn't do it by the end of July, at the latest," Layla admitted. "She's been growing vastly, and it seems to be at an accelerated rate, as well."

I turned to Lucy. "Summon Aquarius," I said. "As long as it doesn't violate your contract."

"It doesn't!" Lucy said happily, and she led the way outside to an extremely nice lake. She dipped the key in the water. " _Open, Gate of the Water Barer! Aquarius!_ "

"Brat, I told you, I was going on my date-"

Lucy cut her off. "Aqua-nee, Aqua-nee. Ellie-nee asked me to summon you."

At that, Aquarius sighed and straightened, turning her gaze to me.

Apparently news travels very fast across the Celestial Realm – or at the very least, a large majority of people knew who I was.

"Why did you ask the brat to summon me?" Aquarius asked, but her voice was much fonder as she spoke of Lucy.

That didn't surprise me. After all, if she remembered the end of the last timeline…

"You know of the deal I have with Lucy, correct?" I asked.

She nodded. "She doesn't get the next Zodiac key until she can summon all the ones she's contracted to. I know."

"And you know that she's getting close?" I asked.

Her eyes narrowed. "What about it?"

"Even though she can only summon three of her four, I will be giving Layla the next key," I said. "And she will give it to Lucy once Lucy can summon all four."

Aquarius raised an eyebrow. "So? What does this have to do with me?"

I requipped the key into my hand and held it up to her.

"I found it," I said. "And if you ask Lucy, I'm sure that you can eventually make it part of her training."

"Make what?" Lucy asked.

"This is Scorpio's key," I told her, "Aquarius's boyfriend. So when you're eventually contracted to him, I think that while you're training, you should try summoning Aquarius and Scorpio at the same time, so they can have some dates in the human world. Time moves faster in the Celestial Realm, so they can enjoy a bit more relaxation on a date out here."

Lucy nodded. "Yeah, that will be fun! I promise to help with your dates Aqua-nee! I can't wait to meet your boyfriend!"

"And if I ask you to stay away from my dates?" Aquarius asked, voice lowering and eyes flashing.

"Then I will keep you both out here and play with Ophiuchus or Virgo," Lucy said firmly.

Aquarius smiled, legitimately smiled. "Alright, Lucy. Happy Birthday. And Elle? Thanks…" her voice faded as she went back to the Celestial Realm.

"How did you find Aqua-nee's boyfriend?" Lucy asked, as we sat down outside near the lake. One of the servants brought a picnic blanket for us to sit on.

"It was actually an accident," I said, giving Scorpio's key to Layla, who carefully tucked it away. "I was looking for Gemini's key, and I found them together."

"Cool!" Lucy said.

"Oh," I smiled, remembering. "Can you manifest your magic yet?"

Lucy nodded, but she seemed a bit downtrodden. "Yeah, but it's really hard. I can make it appear, but I can't solidify it yet."

"Hey, it will take time," I said. "The most important thing you can do with it is make a shield, so I want you to practice, just in case."

She nodded. "You said you were training too, Ellie-nee. What happened?"

"Well," I said. "What do you know of Planetary Magic?"

Layla gasped. "Elle, I didn't know you have Planetary Magic."

I frowned. "Oh. Sorry, I thought I told you." I turned to Lucy. "Well, what do you know?"

She frowned. "It's a Lost Magic, right?"

I nodded. "Yep. It has to do with the planets, and each planet corresponds with an element. Mercury is Iron, Venus is Light, Earth is Earth, Mars is Fire, Jupiter is Lightning, Saturn is Wind, Uranus is Ice, Neptune is Water, and Pluto is Shadow."

"Wow, you can do them all?" Lucy asked.

I laughed. "No, I can only do a few of them. The closest to what I want you to do with your magic is probably a lot like Venus's, which is Light Magic."

" _Venus's Sword_!" I said, and a large sword grew out of my arm. "This spell allows me to create a sword out of pure light. Doing this allows me whatever I wish with it. It can cut through anything, if I want it to, or it can simply go through people and affect them in different ways."

"What do you mean?" Lucy asked.

"For instance, in my guild, we sometimes fight each other, like how you spar with other mages to get stronger. I was fighting a man named Gildarts, and my sword went right through him. After that, I was able to stop him from moving, with the sword. And after that…"

My grin grew evil.

"What did you do?" Lucy asked, slightly scared.

I vanished the sword. "I tickled him!" and then started tickling her.

After a lot of laughing and rolling around, we stopped so we could breathe.

Layla giggled at the sight.

"So, did you actually tickle him with your sword, or were you just messing around with Lucy?" Layla asked.

"Oh, no I actually tickled him," I said. "But despite that he stood up and cast a spell at me, and I didn't defend myself in time. When I woke up, he was getting yelled at by the Master."

Lucy frowned. "But isn't getting hurt normal in fights? Mommy isn't happy when I get hurt, but she wouldn't tell at my trainers."

"Well, for one thing, Gildarts is an adult," I said. "He actually has a daughter about a year older than you. For another thing, Gildarts is probably the most powerful mage in the entire guild, and he probably went a bit overboard, considering who he had as his opponent."

Layla's eyes were wide. "And you were fighting him?"

I nodded. "Yeah. He uses Crash Magic, so his magic can be pretty destructive. After that fight, we realized that when he was fighting a kid he had to just stick with regular minor spells, because the more powerful ones are too much for us."

"Wow," Lucy said. "I don't know if I could do that. It sounds scary."

Hmm, I wonder if Gildarts would be affected by _Urano Metria._

"It can be, a bit," I said. "But Gildarts is a part of the guild – he's family. If he was a real opponent – then I'd be terrified."

I looked at Lucy. "Which one of your spirits are like pets?"

"Well, Vulpecula can be considered a pet, though she does play a type of mind trick on people, that can makes them disoriented," Lucy said.

I nodded, and requipped specific keys into my hands. "These are the keys to Serpens and Lepus, which I also believe are considered pet-like spirits."

Lucy nodded. "That's why there are so much of them."

I took out another key. "This one is something called a Legend Key."

"Oh, I've heard of those!" Lucy said. "They're silver keys but they're still pretty strong!"

I nodded. "Yep, and this one is Orion. Like Asterion and Chara, he uses tracking magic. But both their magic works several times better when they're all summoned together, so I suggest you start doing that as well."

She nodded. "I'm gonna try to keep them all out all day, and also Ophiuchus!"

I sweatdropped. "That's, what…Vulpecula, Canes Venatici, Orion, Lepus, Serpens, and Ophiuchus?"

She nodded determinedly. "I'm going to keep them out all day, and we'll all play together!"

"Maybe you should hold off on bringing out Orion with the others," I said. "He might not want to play."

She frowned. "Oh."

I ruffled her hair. "Don't worry. Besides, Ophiuchus is a golden gate, and even without Orion there's four more silver spirits. That's quite a bit."

She nodded. "I know. But it will be fun!"

I smiled, and then remembered. "Oh, how is your requipping going?"

"It's pretty good," Lucy said. "It's not very big, probably only about the size of a chest…"

"She's been practicing more on summoning them faster than making her space bigger," Layla commented.

"Nothing wrong with that," I said. "Do you still need the book?"

Lucy shook her head, and I smiled.

"Good," I said. "Because I want another girl at the guild to learn it."

Lucy seemed a bit sad at that.

"What's wrong, Lucy?" I asked.

"It's just…I want to join the guild, too!" Lucy said, starting to cry. "But Daddy won't even let me visit!"

I sighed. If Jude didn't get his head out of his ass, I was going to rip him a new one. At least he was actually able to spend time with Lucy on her birthday this year, which is why I came on June 2nd, instead of the 1st.

"Don't worry, Lucy," I said to her, ruffling her hair. "Even if it takes a while, you'll get to join Fairy Tail."

"I know," she said quietly. "But I don't want to wait."

"Well," I said. "I'll see about taking you to the guild. And if we still can't do that…" I smirked. "We'll just have to take the guild here."

Layla looked like she was trying not to laugh.

"Really, thank you Ellie-nee!" Lucy said, jumping into my arms again.

"Yeah," I said. "And it isn't a problem, Lucy. Besides, have you heard of the Grand Magic Games?"

She nodded. "Yeah. It sounds cool…"

"Well, Fairy Tail is competing this year, so you can at least come and see us fight," I said. "The kids have our own team. I'll be participating, too."

"Really? That's so cool, Ellie-nee!"

Layla nodded. "Oh, yes, we'll definitely come see."

* * *

I spent the rest of the day with Lucy, and her spirits, and we ate dinner out by the lake. Layla gave me the extra food, and I read a bit of a story to Lucy before she fell asleep.

"I didn't know she was still read to sleep," I told Layla after leaving the room.

"She isn't," Layla said. "She just loves you, and wants to spend time with you."

"I love her too," I said. I turned and gave Layla a hug. "Thank you, Layla, for giving me a chance and believing in me."

She hugged me back, and I wondered if this is what it felt like to have a mother.

"If you're her sister, that makes you my daughter, too, Elle," she said.

I squeezed her tighter, and tried to hold back tears. "Thank you, Layla."

 _For giving me something I always wanted._

"One more thing," I said, pulling out of the hug. "Grammi still works here, right?"

Layla nodded.

"I want Brandish to start meditating with Lucy, and work on training. They'll be great friends."

Layla nodded. "I have no problem with it, and I've been wanting to introduce them for a while. Goodnight, Elle, and good luck at the Grand Magic Games."

"Goodnight Layla." I smiled and went home.

* * *

 **Alright guys, next chapter is the start of the Grand Magic Games! I might be a few days (like until the weekend) because I want to make sure I haven't messed up any of the organizing. Once I'm all set, I'll be able to post them.**

 **And for those of you who don't know Brandish, she is in the Alvarez arc, and her mother was Grammi, one of the Heartfilias' servants. Because of a huge misunderstanding, she tried to kill Lucy, but eventually Lucy... You know, was _Lucy_ and they ended up as friends. You can look her up and find colored pages from the manga that fans have filled out, but she has green hair, just so you're not confused.**

 **Brandish is the reason that the warning is up in the summary, and she will be the only real character from the Alvarez arc (as of currently). No August, Irene or Larcade. Just saying.**


	30. The 1st Annual GMG: Arrival and Prelims

**Chapter Thirty - The 1st Annual Grand Magic Games: Arrival and Preliminaries**

We spent the rest of June training our asses off. I also practiced teleporting all of the kids throughout the city multiple times. In the end, I was able to take all eight of us and teleport us to the other side of Magnolia.

So I wasn't really worried about moving five of us.

Levy was probably the most worried about the games, and she had been training constantly. She felt that she wasn't up to par with the rest of us who were competing.

To be honest, she wasn't. She was a little behind, compared to me, Laxus, Cana, and Juvia. But she was still strong, and I told her so.

She spent a lot of time working on building up her magical container, and went crazy working on her spells.

But she caught up, and that had her feeling better.

* * *

With three days until the games, we began to make our way to Crocus.

Unfortunately for Laxus, Makarov made us take the train, so Laxus curled up on the seat next to me and tried not to barf. I ran my fingers through his hair, and started up his SoundPods, hoping the music would distract him. Soon enough, it actually worked, and he was fast asleep by my side.

"Freed, is there any progress on making a rune?" I asked, turning to him.

He shook his head.

"We couldn't find anything," Levy said.

I sighed. Hopefully Porlyusica would have some progress.

* * *

When we arrived there, and checked into our hotel, everyone (except me) was more than a little surprised to see a royal summons waiting for me.

"Elle, what did you do now?!" Makarov screeched.

I rolled my eyes. "It'll be fine. Bye, guys. I dunno when I'll get back, so for now, get settled, and then meditate or something. But nothing too straining – hard training is over, we're already here. Just expand your containers if you can."

The group, including Bickslow and Evergreen (even though they weren't competing), nodded, and made their way upstairs.

I turned and left with the royal summons.

* * *

At the palace, I was shown to a small room off to the side, which seemed to be for serving guests.

Not long after waiting, Ame walked through. "Elle, how are you?"

"I'm good," I said, smiling. "How is your pregnancy going?"

She smiled. "It's progressing well. Hisui is expected sometime at the beginning of August."

"While it's good that everything is going well, I mostly meant 'How are you handling it?'" I said, laughing.

She laughed. "I'll admit, I haven't even gone to the higher floors of the castle in months. I'm already waddling around like a penguin, and the lack of mobility is driving me insane."

I winced. "Yeah, that would get on my nerves, too. I like to move around a lot."

"So, you're here to see the games?" she asked.

"Not quite," I said.

"Oh?" Ame asked.

"I'm not really here to see the games. More like participate in them," I admitted.

She froze, before she started getting riled up. "What is your Master thinking, sending a child to compete in the games!"

"Please, Your Majesty, calm down and let me explain!" I said.

She took a deep breath and sat back down in the chair across from me. "Alright. And I told you to call me Ame, remember?"

I blushed. "Alright, Ame. Since we're allowed to submit two teams, I asked Master Makarov to compose a team entirely of children. I wouldn't have done it if I didn't believe the five of us could handle it."

She took a deep breath. "How young is the youngest on your team?"

"Levy is almost six," I said. "She'll be turning six later this month."

"A five-year-old!" she moaned.

"How about we change the subject, eh?" I asked.

She took a deep breath, before straightening. "We've discovered that Hisui is indeed a girl. Toma believes you now, though I think he has believed you since you've admitted the pumpkin thing. He's gone full out as 'Mato'. Completely ridiculous."

Despite saying that, Ame was smiling, and sounded extremely fond. "But that type of ridiculousness is what made me fall for him. That idiot."

I laughed. "Well, at least he's having fun. I can't even imagine how stressful running a country is, so it's nice that he gets to have some fun with planning this."

She nodded. "I'm assuming you're going to be the team leader?"

I shrugged. "Probably. Why?"

"Each team needs to straighten things out," Ame said. "It starts with preliminaries, then five straight days of battle – during those days, each member of the team must compete in one game and one battle. You can chose when you want to go, though, and the match-ups are made randomly. Not enough is known about Fiore's mages for us to let the audience pick."

I nodded. "I see. I don't mind the extra day, I think it's a good idea."

"After that, on July 6th, is the day of rest. July 7th is a free for all, with all members from each guild. If there are two teams for one guild, they're scores are averaged. The next evening is the banquet for the participating guilds. They're hoping everyone will clear out by the morning of July 10th."

I nodded. "I see. That makes sense. I think it will go over well."

She smiled. "I believe so as well. Thank you for the help, Elle. We really appreciate it. I didn't really have anything important to say, I just really wanted to catch up with you and see how you are doing."

"That's fine," I said. "And thank you for the cookies." I gestured to the plate of cookies in front of me, grabbing one for myself as I left.

"Oh, take more," Ame said. "Enough for your team."

I paused. "Would you mind if I take eight, then? We also have a reserve member, and two of the kids aren't competing because they don't think they're ready."

She nodded. "Do you need a box?"

I shook my head and requipped eight cookies into a specific drawer in my requip space, made specifically for snacks. "I'm good," I said. "I hope you enjoy the games."

"I look forward to it," she said, as a guard came in and began to lead me out.

I waved as I left the palace, and teleported back to the hotel.

* * *

"What….is this?" I asked, stunned.

"We're having a huge sleepover!" Levy said happily. "Isn't it great, Elle-chan?"

The kids had pushed all eight beds together to form a giant bed so we could all sleep on the same thing.

"How did this…come about?" I asked.

"Juvia wanted to share a bed with Onee-sama," Juvia said. "And everyone decided they wanted to, too!"

I sighed and shrugged, requipping out my cookies. "I brought cookies. One for each of us."

I handed out the cookies and took a bite of my own, nearly moaning by how good it felt.

Talk about _perfect_ chocolate chip cookies. Where it just melts in your mouth and is all gooey and warm and the cookie is absolutely heaven in every way.

"Man, those are some good cookies!" Bickslow said. He had finished his first.

Looking around, I could see the others nodding, most of them with their mouths full.

"Bicks, you've got some chocolate on your face," Laxus said, taking another bite of his cookie.

"Good, I want more," Bickslow said, making his way to the mirror so he could wipe off the chocolate (and subsequently eat it).

I laughed.

* * *

After cleaning up for the night and eating a big dinner, the eight of us climbed into our giant mess of a bed and laid there, cuddling up.

Somehow, I ended up in the middle, with three or four different people half on me.

"Goodnight, everyone," I said, as my eyes began to close.

"Goodnight," came seven replies.

It was the best sleep I'd ever gotten.

* * *

On the next day, we had gotten a schedule to fill out if we made it past the preliminaries.

"Who wants to go when?" I asked. "Try to make sure there are two days between your game and battle."

The games started on a Monday, and then ended on Friday before the mandatory rest on Saturday and the battle royale on Sunday.

"Do we know what the games are?" Levy asked.

I shook my head.

At the silence around me, I took my pen and went to Monday's panel. "Alright, who wants to start us off?"

Silence.

I sighed.

"Alright, how about I fill this out and you guys okay it?"

They nodded.

Looking at the battle sheet, I put down Cana first, then Laxus, me, Levy and Juvia.

At the games part, I put down me, then Levy, Juvia, Cana, and Laxus.

"Alright," I said. "On Monday, I'll be doing the games, and Cana will be battling. On Tuesday, Levy will be doing the games and Laxus will be battling. On Wednesday, Juvia will do the games and I will be battling. On Thursday, Cana will be doing the games and Levy will be battling. On Friday, Laxus will be doing the games and Juvia will be battling. Is that good?"

Looking at the nods around me, I picked up the sheet and handed it to Makarov, and he submitted it to the committee.

* * *

When it came time for the Preliminaries, I made sure we were all in our hotel room by seven, and suggested that they all go to sleep.

"Why so early?" Freed asked.

"Simple," I said. "I'm assuming there's a reason why Midnight was specified. So I'm going to set an alarm for eleven thirty. But I want us to get a nap in."

They accepted it and we climbed into our huge fort bed.

Our alarm woke us up at 11:30 pm, and everyone (even Freed, Bickslow and Evergreen) were awake and ready for whatever was going to happen at twelve.

I couldn't help worrying that it would be the same as the X791 games, or else I would have changed some things around.

At twelve, the gong sounded and the hotel was raised into the sky.

Laxus immediately started getting sick.

I sighed.

Finally, the hotel stopped, and Mato appeared before everyone. "Hello, everyone. Kabo."

"Kabo?" Freed asked. Everyone (except Laxus who was still on the ground, recovering) looked confused.

"We will be kicking off the Games with the Sky Labyrinth, kabo. Here, you will follow the path to and make your way through the maze to one of the checkpoints, kabo! I wish you good luck! Kabo!"

Then Mato disappeared, and we could see people running up the different paths.

"Cana," I said.

She nodded, pulling out a card. "Yep. Give me a sec."

After several seconds of tense silence, she stopped pouring magic into the card, and yelled. "I've got it, Elle!"

"Great," I said. She handed me the card and I concentrated on it, finding the location.

"Everyone grab on," I said, and Levy, Cana, Laxus and Juvia's hands grabbed onto my arms.

"Here we go," I said, and then teleported.

The five of us appeared outside of a door, and I walked forward and opened it.

The judges, which was really all of the guild masters (though it would be lowered to only the ones that would be competing) and Yajima, stared at us in surprise, though Makarov was roaring with laughter.

"Hello, Mato!" I told the pumpkin, and winked at him.

A loud bell rang once in the arena, and an image of Mato appeared in front of everyone again. "That gong is signaled once a team makes it to the finish line, kabo. One team has already grabbed first place, kabo!

With the announcement over, Mato turned to us. "Congratulations. You made it here in less than two minutes, kabo."

I smirked, and we made our way out of the arena. "We need to get some sleep!" I called. "I dunno if you noticed, but it's _past our bedtime!_ See you tomorrow…."

Laughing, the five of us left the arena, and I teleported us back to the hotel.

* * *

Freed, Bickslow, and Evergreen all jumped into the air when we appeared. "You're back already?" Evergreen asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, after Cana found the card we just teleported there."

"You see?" Freed said. "I told you that Ella-sama had a plan."

I smiled, and we laughed.

"Yeah. We're going to win this thing, guys. But for now, let's get to bed – we have a full day tomorrow."

* * *

 **This was supposed to be up yesterday so I worked extra hard to get you two chapters today. There should be a chapter up for each day of the games. Enjoy. :)**

 **Also I had to make cookies.**


	31. The 1st Annual GMG: Day One

**Two chapters went up today, make sure you've seen the previous one.**

* * *

 **Chapter Thirty One - The 1st Annual Grand Magic Games: DAY ONE – July 1st, X773**

We woke up the next day fully refreshed, and went down for the games.

My skin felt oddly empty without my bracelet on, and my magic hummed under my skin like an itch.

Makarov met us on the way down. "Now, I've made costumes for you-"

"No thank you," Cana said.

"I agree," Laxus said.

"You guys are supposed to match!" Makarov said.

"What color are the costumes?" I asked.

"Purple," Makarov said.

I frowned and looked pointedly at Juvia and Levy. "Are you sure that's the best choice? How about black and gold?"

"It doesn't matter, because-"

Ignoring him, I requipped my ColorS, and started changing my outfit. My pants and jacket were black with gold trimmings, and my shirt was the other way around.

He deflated.

I turned to the others. "How do you want yours?"

"Black with gold," Cana said, gesturing to her dress.

"Like Onee-sama's!" Juvia said, pointing down at her shirt and skirt.

"Black with gold," Laxus said.

"Me too," Levy said.

Done changing everyone's colors, I put away the ColorS and turned to Makarov. "There. All better."

He sighed. "Fine. You guys will be going in last because you came in first place. They're going backwards."

He left our tunnel and made his way to the commentator's booth, where I could also see Goldmine, Bob, Ooba, and Jose.

Damn, I was hoping he wouldn't get through.

But the amount meant that three guilds got two teams through.

I hope Phantom isn't one of them.

"Guys," I said. "The judges booth has five masters, including our own, which means that three guilds got two teams through. One of those masters is Jose Porla, the guild master of Phantom Lord. They have a thing against Fairy Tail, so be careful if you're against them. No fooling around or showman ship. Take them out as quickly as possible."

They nodded (though Levy looked a bit confused), and Laxus stared at Jose. "I don't like him."

"I don't think anyone likes him," I said.

The girls giggled.

Suddenly, a gong sounded, and trumpets filled the arena. "Hello, everyone, and welcome to the first annual Grand Magic Games! I'm Mato, and I'm your host, kabo!"

"Did he just say 'pumpkin'?" Laxus asked.

"Yes."

"First, introducing Yajima-san, kabo."

"It's a wonderful opportunity to be here," Yajima said.

"And the rest of our commentators are the guild masters of the participating guilds. They will introduce themselves as their teams come on the field, kabo."

"That's going to get annoying real quick," Laxus said.

"Did you completely miss him doing that last night?" I asked.

Laxus ignored me.

"In sixth place, Blue Pegasus, kabo!"

 _Sixth place? Why six instead of eight? Does that mean that only one guild has two teams?_

"Elle, I thought you said there were eight teams."

"The rule book said six," Levy said. "I told you yesterday."

"In fifth place, Quatro Cerberus, kabo!"

 _But didn't Ame say 'all forty' contestants yesterday? Ahhhhhhh!_

I couldn't remember.

"In fourth place, Lamia Scale, kabo!"

"Are you sure about the rule book, Levy?"

She nodded. "I got super confused when you said there were eight teams, because I distinctly remember there were only six!"

"In third place, Fairy Tail, kabo!"

"Who's on the other team?" Laxus asked.

"Macao, Wakaba, and three other people I don't recognize."

"One of them is Clarke!" Levy piped up. "He's the one who's been helping with Solid Script Magic!"

She pointed at a white haired mage who seemed to be in his late fifties, but still pretty spry.

"Who are the other two?" I asked.

"The girl is Maggie," Cana said. "She's an Iron-Make Mage."

The girl looked to be in her early thirties, and had light brown hair.

 _Iron-Make, huh?_ I thought.

"The guy is Rex," Laxus said. "He's a Speed Mage."

The guy had indigo colored hair, and seemed to be in his late twenties.

I should really pay more attention to the rest of the guild.

"It's a decent team," Cana admitted. "Would've been better if Dad was doing it. Or even Enno; that would be interesting."

"Hmm, if our other team got third, that means that Phantom got second," I muttered to myself.

Laxus snickered. "Our guild got two teams through."

"Yeah, we did," I said, smiling.

"In second place, we have Phantom Lord, kabo!"

The Phantom team came out, and I actually recognized Aria and Sol, which made me wonder how old they were. Totomaru wasn't on the team, though I think that's because he's too young. Aria seemed younger than Sol, but he still seemed to be in his early twenties.

"What is this? There are five guild masters, and five teams out here! This means that one guild had _two teams_ that passed the qualifying round. And first place, winning by a landslide and only taking 1 minute and 54 seconds….is Fairy Tail! Kabo!"

And we walked into the stadium.

There were immediately roars of upset and other things. Something I was expecting. I mean, technically, none of us were even teenagers yet.

"What are you thinking, Makarov?" someone yelled, and everyone actually quieted down to hear our Master's response.

"I'm thinking that there is a reason they got first place," Makarov said calmly. "They may be children, but they are smart, and resourceful. I suggest you don't underestimate them."

"With all of our teams introduced, we have our first game up today. Participants, step forward, kabo."

I walked forward, and I noticed Macao step forward for his team. I didn't recognize any of the other people who stepped forward.

"And we will be starting off Day One with Pandemonium, kabo!"

What?

I had been expecting Hidden. I had been _planning_ for Hidden, ever since I saw the Preliminaries yesterday.

This was a different matter.

 _But is it easier?_ I wondered.

"Alright, everyone pick a number!" Mato said.

We reached forward and all grabbed a stick, and I noticed mine said 6.

"What's yours?" I asked Macao.

"5," He said.

I nodded.

Last was probably the best position for me.

I probably couldn't take 100, but I could take whatever was left.

We all waited patiently as Mato explained the rules, and showed us the chart with the amount of monsters on it.

S – 1

A – 4

B – 15

C – 30

D - 50

Quatro Cerberus was first, and asked for seven. One was a B monster, two were Cs, and the rest were Ds. It took him awhile, but he eventually managed to take them all out, and ended up with seven points.

S – 1

A – 4

B – 14

C – 28

D - 46

Phantom Lord was second, and asked for twenty. He managed to take down an A monster, three Bs, and two C monsters (the rest were Ds), but fell to the S Class at seventeen, and Phantom Lord ended up with no points.

S – 1

A – 3

B – 11

C – 26

D - 35

Blue Pegasus asked for three, and managed to defeat them all, though he seemed really tired. Which was a bit sad because they were all Ds.

S – 1

A – 3

B – 11

C – 26

D - 32

Lamia Scale went next, and I was surprised to actually recognize him. It was Jura, but he was a lot younger, and if it weren't for us, he'd probably be the youngest in the competition, at sixteen. Despite that, he was obviously very skilled and had quite a strong magical presence.

Though he still didn't have hair.

He asked for ten, and ended up with the S Class monster, which he managed to take out.

I couldn't help but be a bit relieved.

He also got an A and two Cs, and the other six were Ds.

S – 0

A – 2

B – 11

C – 24

D - 26

Before Macao entered, I whispered in his ear. "Macao, I'm taking all the monsters that are left. So take more than ten, because you're not going to get another chance. It's the only way you'll get second place."

With the amount left, he could take as little as eleven to get second place, and the most I would have to fight would be 52.

"Can you take fifty?" he whispered.

"Yes," I whispered. My magic hummed, agreeing with me, eager to be set lose.

He nodded and walked forward. "I'll take thirteen."

Baka.

Macao went forward and waited for him to be surrounded before he exploded his flame outwards, destroying all the Ds he had gotten immediately (which was four), and even taking out over half his Cs (which was three).

He had taken down seven, but he still had two Cs left, three Bs, and one A.

To my surprise, I watched as he stopped the spell and started running around the room. Behind him were the Cs and one B, and it all made sense when the ground started exploding after him.

 _Timed bombs, huh? Smart…_

He now only had two Bs and the A.

He continued to run around the room, maneuvering the two Bs into crashing into each other and then sending down an explosive bomb from above.

They turned to dust, and the A was the only one left.

The A went to smash him and then Macao formed a shield out of his fire, backfiring on the monster and defeating all thirteen.

 _Did he get that trick from me?_ I wondered.

And as he left, these were the results I had to fight.

S – 0

A – 1

B – 8

C – 19

D – 22.

I stepped forward, and I could feel all eyes on me.

"Good luck," Macao whispered.

"Go, Ellie-nee!" Lucy screamed at the top of her lungs, and I managed to catch sight of her in the stands, with an unsure Brandish right next to her.

I smiled and it turned into a smirk.

"I will take fifty."

"Fifty?" the Phantom Lord mage shouted, having woken up. "That'll leave none for the rest of us."

"Congratulations, you can count as well as I can," I said dryly. "I _know_ there will be none left for you."

"You can't take on fifty of those things!"

"Watch me," I said, and I walked inside.

It was dark in there, and I could hear noise as the monsters were generated.

I could hear the commentators, and it suddenly occurred to me that I've been tuning them out the whole game.

"Do you think she was reckless, Makarov?" Yajima asked.

"Oh, Elle's always been reckless," Makarov said, laughing. "But I think she can handle it."

Yeah. I can.

"How old is she?" asked Goldmine.

"She turned ten two months ago," Makarov commented.

As I waited for the monsters to finish generating, I held up my hand in the Fairy Tail sign.

And then I was surrounded by fifty monsters.

I took a deep breath and bellowed, " _Mars's Wave of Agony!_ " putting a powerful burst into it.

As part of my magic rushed out of me, fire bursting from my palms, the itch started to disappear, and I felt much better from finally releasing it. I kept the fire going, burning the closest monsters to ash, and I felt really _alive_.

Finally using my magic at it's full potential again felt amazing, and even stronger, since I'd been training with a smaller amount of magic available for the past two months.

"Is that what I think it is?" Yajima asked.

"Probably," Makarov said, laughing.

"What is it, kabo?" Mato asked.

"That is something called Planetary Magic. It's a Lost Magic, and I can't help but wonder where a little girl learned how to use it."

The fire died down and I observed my enemies. It seemed as if I had taken down all the D monsters, a few of the C monsters, and one B monster.

Which means that I had one A, seven B, and twelve C monsters left – twenty in total.

"And Elle has taken down thirty monsters with one spell, kabo!" Mato yelled.

This was going to be the hardest.

I jumped into the shadows and appeared from the ceiling behind the A monster, " _Venus's Sword!_ "

The sword (which was around twenty feet long) went through him and I hit the ground. Because I fell over twenty or thirty feet, I put a small burst of fire from under my feet, to slow my descent. Turning back to the monster (and glad that I only had one A), I commanded him to attack the other monsters.

"Oh dear, what is this?" Bob asked.

" _Venus's Sword_ allows her to do what she wishes to her enemies when they're hit," Makarov said.

The A monster turned for the B monsters and took them all at once, destroying five of them until it was destroyed itself.

Two B monsters, and twelve C monsters.

 _Let's try and get this done all at once._ " _Arms of the Earth!_ " Vines shot from the ground and imprisoned the remaining monsters, keeping them in place, and I prepared myself for Venus's strongest spell.

As I had mentioned before – not all of the strongest spells are equal.

Venus's tends to be easier to cast, and it would also fit the situation better. An earthquake, tsunami, or volcanic eruption would _not_ fit the situation, abd despite my power increase, I didn't really know if I could keep them running, even on a smaller scale.

With the vines keeping the monsters in place, I closed my eyes and summoned my magic. " _Venus's Brilliant Blast!_ "

A beam of light exploded around the entirety of the Pandemonium house, and as it cleared, I was the only one left standing; all the other monsters had turned to dust.

The building was also completely destroyed.

I raised my hand in the air as the Fairy Tail sign, and a loud cheer went up throughout the stadium. The rest of my team was cheering wildly.

"Elle had defeated all fifty monsters, kabo!" Mato shouted. As the cheering died down, he continued. "In first place is Fairy Tail A, the younger team, with 10 points," he announced. "Fairy Tail B is in second place with 8 points, followed by Lamia Scale with 6 points. Quatro Cerberus is awarded 4 points, and Blue Pegasus gets 2 points. Phantom Lord receives none, kabo."

A scoreboard appeared, and we were ordered as he listed.

Fairy Tail A – 10 points

Fairy Tail B – 8 points

Lamia Scale – 6 points

Quatro Cerberus – 4 points

Blue Pegasus – 2 points

Phantom Lord – 0 points

"With the games portion being done for today, we're going to take a lunch break and then reconvene at two pm, kabo!" Mato said.

My magic still itched.

Looking at the clock, I saw it wasn't even noon, and I made my way back to the rest of my team, where I was glomped by tiny children.

"Nice job," Laxus said. "You've got us off to a great start."

"Thanks," I said, requipping the bracelet and putting it back on my wrist. My main roared, wanting to continue fighting, and there was a moment of dizziness as my magic settled. I blinked it away and steadied myself as discretely as I could. "Let's go eat some lunch. I want to introduce you guys to some people."

We went back to our tunnel, and Freed, Bickslow and Evergreen came over to say hello.

"You did wonderful, Ella-sama!" Freed yelled, hugging me.

I laughed. "Thank you, Freed."

"It was quite the show," came a rough voice, and I looked up to see Porlyusica, who was opening up the door to the infirmary.

"You came!" I said, smiling and walking inside. The other kids followed me, and we all say down on some of the spare beds.

"Well, I wanted to see what would happen. Plus I expect at least one of you to get hurt somehow."

"Thank you," I said.

I turned to the others. "You know how you can sometimes say things that throw others off guard?"

They nodded.

"I don't know which one of us will be up against Quatro Cerberus, but please ask them why they hell it's called _Quatro_ Cerberus. In the legends, Cerberus only has three heads."

"Maybe it's supposed to be four different three headed dogs…" Juvia said.

I snorted. "Twelve heads are better than three?"

Levy giggled.

The door opened and Makarov walked in, followed by Macao and Wakaba. "I wanted to congratulate you, Elle. You did a wonderful job."

I smiled. "Thanks! Though…" my smile turned evil. "Maybe I should thank that Phantom mage for taking care of so many monsters for me."

Macao snorted. "Please do that. Please."

"That the one that got no points?" Wakaba asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, and the one who said I couldn't take down fifty. Maybe they organizers will learn from this and put more in next year."

I turned to Makarov. "How hard would it be to make one of those things ourselves? Because it's a great exercise."

Wakaba snorted. "Exercise, she says."

Gildarts rushed into the room and hugged Cana. "Cana, you did such a good job out there!"

"I don't fight until the battle portion, Dad!" Cana yelled.

Gildarts froze up. "YOU'RE FIGHTING?"

"Did he think this was a beauty competition or something?" Laxus asked, sweatdropping. "Geez."

"Yes, I'm fighting! Get over it!"

"What did you mean by 'proud of her'?" Levy asked.

"Well, you all looked so cool out there, especially because you're kids. And then Elle was so badass, taking down half the monsters for herself!"

I smiled. "Thank you, Gildarts. Don't worry, Cana is going to be kickass during the fights."

"Oh, Ellie-girl, I wanted to hug you," Enno said, running up and hugging me. "You did an awesome job down there, and you looked so cool! I think half the audience was in shock!"

She let go of me right as a tiny missile shot through the door and tackled me to the ground.

"Ellie-nee, Ellie-nee!"

"Hey, Lucy," I managed to get out, gasping for breath.

"You were amazing!" Lucy said.

"I apologize," Layla said at the door, looking sheepish. Brandish stood beside her quietly. "I don't know if we're allowed back here."

"It's fine, Miss…" Makarov asked.

"Heartfilia. Layla Heartfilia," she said, shaking his hand.

He raised an eyebrow and turned to me. "I didn't know you knew the Heartfilias, Elle."

"I know Ame, too," I said.

"Ame?" he asked.

"You know," I said. "The Queen."

An arrow shot through his heart, and he turned white and collapsed to the ground.

Before Lucy had a chance to get off of me, Enno scooped her up into the air and hugged her. "Oh My Gosh, you're absolutely adorable!"

She put her down and smiled at Lucy. "I'm Enno, it's nice to meet you."

Lucy held her dress and curtseyed, and Enno squealed again. "I'm Lucy Heartfilia. It's nice to meet you Miss Enno."

Enno's squeals reached a crescendo and she started crying large anime tears as she held up Lucy again. "Sooooooo cuuuuuuuuuuute!"

I pulled Lucy out of Enno's grasp and led her over to Levy. "Levy, this is Lucy. Lucy, this is Levy. You both like books. Begin."

And then I walked away, after making sure that Enno gave Lucy some breathing room.

"Hello, Brandish," I said to the girl as I joined her. "My name is Elle."

"Hello," she said quietly.

I didn't know much about Brandish, other than what had happened with her mother in the original timeline. I knew she was very loyal, however.

"So, I hear you've been practicing magic with Lucy," I said.

Brandish nodded. "Yes. I've been meditating and practicing with her, but I need to be careful, because my magic seems to change things."

"I believe that your magic is called _Command T_ ," I told her. "It allows you to change something's mass; make it bigger or smaller. It could come in handy in the future."

She nodded.

"Are you having fun with Lucy?" I asked.

She smiled a bit and nodded a bit more eagerly.

"Elle is the one who suggested you start spending time together," Layla put in.

Brandish smiled at me. "Really?"

I nodded. "Let me introduce myself properly. I'm Eleanor Rigby, and you can call me any variation of my name except Eleanor. If you were paying attention to the comments earlier, you should know I practice Planetary Magic, with a specific type of element for each planet."

Brandish nodded. "I can call you what I want?"

I nodded. "Sure."

She paused then said. "I'm going to call you Nora," and then got up leaving me in a sorry of shock. She joined Lucy and Levy, who already seemed to be the best of friends. All of the girls were spending time chatting in the corner, in fact. Enno was talking with Layla, and they were getting along pretty well, too, though Layla was several years older.

 _Well, Nora is a first._

"Do I want to know what you did?" Laxus asked, gesturing at his grandfather, who was _still_ lying on the ground with an arrow in his heart. At least he was slowly regaining his color.

"Probably not," I said, and requipped out food. "Lunch, everyone."

* * *

Lucy and Brandish fit in with the rest of the kids pretty seamlessly, and it was fun, all in all.

Until Jude came in. "Lucy, Layla, Brandish, what are you doing? We need to get back to the stands, and I don't think you're allowed back here."

"It's fine, Mr. Heartfilia," Makarov said. "They're welcome to stay back here if they like. You could even sit with our guild so you get a better view."

"Oh, Daddy, can we? Please please please?" Lucy begged.

Jude sighed and nodded.

"Yay!" Lucy shouted, hugging him, and the Heartfilias and Brandish followed Enno, Freed, Bickslow and Evergreen back to Fairy Tail's section.

Gildarts gave Cana one more hug for good luck, and then we were on our way, splitting paths with Macao and Wakaba as we made our way to the field.

"You're going to do great, Cana," I said. "I think the biggest thing you need to worry about is getting knocked out. As long as you're standing until the end, it will at least be a tie. So just remember to block. I'm sure you'll be able to get them out pretty quickly, though."

She nodded. "Right. I'm ready."

"The battle portions have been organized so no one faces the same team twice, kabo! However, that eventually means that Fairy Tail will have to fight itself, kabo!" Mato announced.

First up was Lamia Scale vs Phantom Lord. I recognized the Phantom Mage as Aria, and I sighed when he won and earned ten points, which put Phantom Lord tied with us.

Next was Fairy Tail B and Blue Pegasus, and Wakaba went onto the field and utterly trashed the pretty boy standing there, putting them at 18 points.

Then it was Cana's turn, and she was going to be fighting Quatro Cerberus.

"Remember," I told her as she got ready to leave. "Ask them why they're called Quatro Cerberus when Cerberus only has three heads. Quatro is Spanish for four, and _Tres_ is Spanish for three."

She cocked her head. "What's Spanish?"

I sighed. "Just tell me what it should be."

"Tres Cerberus," Cana said.

"You've got it," I said. "Go get them. Roast them like the dogs they are."

"Onee-sama, I thought it was pigs?" Juvia asked.

"It can be both," I said dismissively.

"I don't think it can," Laxus disagreed.

 _"It can be both."_

"Why don't we ask Levy?" Laxus said, and we both turned to her.

She sweatdropped. "Freed and I will look it up later. For now, Cana…kick their butts!"

"Yeah, what she said," I said. "Kick their ass!"

"I didn't say that, Elle-chan."

When Cana went onto the field, she was smiling widely.

She stood across from the Quatro Cerberus member, and I was extremely glad that they put in mics to catch what the competitors were saying, because it was _hilarious_.

"Come on, I don't want to fight a little kid!" The man said.

"More like you don't want to _lose_ to a little kid!" Cana said.

The gong rang and the fight started.

" _Cards Volley!_ " Cana yelled, throwing her cards in the air, and a series of explosions hit the ground around her opponent, sending him flying.

"How old is Cana?" Yajima asked.

"Cana is currently six years old. She will be turning seven later this month."

"Look, kid, I don't want to hurt you!" the other mage said as he got up from the ground.

"Guess I'll just have to hurt you then!" she yelled, hurtling her cards in the air. " _Summon Lightning!_ "

She hit him with one card, and it shocked him a lot.

"Jeez, you don't even want to cast one spell?" Cana asked.

" _Wind Whip!_ " the mage panted, sending wind at her.

" _Funhouse Cards!_ " Her mirrors reflected the attack back at him, and he dodged out of the way before it hit him.

"I have a question," she said.

"What?" the mage asked, panting.

"Why is it called _Quatro_ Cerberus when a Cerberus only has three heads?"

The mage froze.

Looking at the commentator's box, I could see Goldmine slowly sinking out of view.

Cana rolled her eyes and cast, " _Sleep Card!_ " at him before he could move again, and he passed out.

"Oh come on," she said. "Weak."

"Why are you calling him weak?" Goldmine asked, still hiding.

"That card doesn't work on stronger mages," Cana said. "It doesn't work on any of the kids on my team, or my dad."

"Your dad?" Bob asked.

"Gildarts Clive," Cana said.

All the judges (with the exception of Makarov) had a look of revelation on their face.

"And Fairy Tail A retakes the lead with 10 points, kabo!" Mato said, and we all looked at the scores for the end of the first day.

Fairy Tail A – 20 points

Fairy Tail B – 18 points

Phantom Lord – 10 points

Lamia Scale – 6 points

Quatro Cerberus – 4 points

Blue Pegasus – 2 points

Cana had joined us in the tunnel. "I was all pumped up for a fight, and it ended up being an easy win," she said, groaning. "Now I feel jumpy!"

"We can spar later, if you want," I offered. "I still have a bunch of energy, too, and I don't fight until Wednesday."

My magic hummed eagerly in agreement, and I felt slightly bothered by how _alive_ it feels, even if it was dampened by the bracelet.

Those monsters were a lot easier to take down than I thought, and I wondered if it was me, or because they get a lot stronger in the future.

But it was probably just the latter.

This was the first year of the games, after all.


	32. The 1st Annual GMG: Day Two

**Chapter Thirty Two - The 1st Annual Grand Magic Games: DAY TWO - July 2nd, X773**

After sparring with Cana, making monitoring cards for Magical Overload for Lucy and Brandish, a big dinner, and a warm bath, I went to bed with the others and we all easily fell asleep.

We awoke bright and early, and Lucy and Brandish greeted the group of us as we left the room.

"Who's participating today?" Lucy asked eagerly.

"I'm doing the games!" Levy said happily.

Lucy hugged Levy. "Good luck, Levy-chan! I know you're going to do a great job!"

Brandish gave a shy smile. "I look forward to your victory."

"Thank you, Lu-chan, Dee-chan! We'll see you all for the lunch break!"

Levy couldn't find a shorter version of 'Brandish', so she went with 'Dee', from Brandy.

Lucy and Brandish went with Freed, Bickslow and Evergreen, and our team continued through our passage to enter the field.

"Remember," I told Levy. "It's okay to hide so you can think. You're not brawn, Levy, you're the brains, and you've got the magic power to back it up."

Levy nodded. "Right!"

As the group gathered for the game, I noticed Sol from Phantom Lord competing, and I scowled.

"Levy, you see the Phantom Lord mage?"

She nodded.

"His name is Sol, and he has power over earth. He's also a major jerk, and I know that in the future, he has a type of ability where he can read his opponents minds and make something."

"Make something?" Levy asked.

I nodded. "He's likely to make a stone statue as one of your family members, or maybe your kidnappers. I don't know if he can do it right now, but be careful of him."

I didn't want to scare her, but she had to know.

Levy was a bit more nervous as she went onto the field, but she was determined, and wary of him.

"Makarov, how old is the girl on the field?" Yajima asked.

"That is Levy McGarden, and she is five years old! She'll be turning six quite soon, however."

Jose started laughing. "You put a _five-year-old_ on the field?"

"I have faith in her," Makarov said.

Mato started explaining the game, which seemed to be Hidden. I honestly didn't know if this was a good thing or a bad thing, but I had faith in Levy.

They were all transported to different places throughout the town, and Levy looked at the images around her. She also looked to the sky a bit, and seemed to be muttering something to herself, but the lacrimas didn't pick it up.

She turned to a copy of herself and went extremely close to it, leaning in and observing it, before turning and observing one of the others. She turned to one more copy before she turned back to hers, and she reached out and touched it.

There was an error noise, and Levy was transported somewhere else.

Jose was laughing. "She just touched one of the things, even though she knew she was going to get penalized! Your kids are stupid!"

"I have faith in her," Makarov said.

I smirked, and turned to the others. "Do you guys see her smile on the lacrima screen? She has a plan."

Sure enough, Levy turned and wrote, " _Solid Script; Stairs!_ " STAIRS formed and Levy started climbing it, trying to reach the highest part of the city. When she finally stood on top of a building, she screamed at the sky as she wrote.

" _Solid Script Magic; Heat Seeking Missiles!_ "

Four missiles burst out of the floating words and zoomed around the city, each of them hitting a contestant with the exception of the other Fairy Tail mage.

Levy's point count as -1 went up to 3, and she now had the most points, as everyone (except for the other Fairy Tail mage) had -1 point.

Sol got up angrily, and shouted, " _Roche Concerto_ ," at Levy, throwing a series of rocks at her.

One of them hit her in the leg, and even from my spot, I could hear the crack noise it made, and we winced as she yelled out.

Levy went down to 2 and Sol went up to 0.

Levy reappeared, but it was near Sol, and I couldn't help worrying.

" _Solid Script; Eggs_!" she shouted, and a series of eggs came exploding out of the word EGG and at Sol.

Their points switched back to 3 and -1, and Sol was transported.

But because of Levy's leg, which was probably broken, she couldn't move.

Or…maybe she could.

" _Solid Script; Bandages_!" and Levy began taping up her leg. When it was finished, she said, " _Solid Script; Crutches!_ " and began to move along, albeit slowly.

Before she could get very far, the timer went off and the town disappeared.

Levy was ranked first, at 3 points, followed by the other Fairy Tail team at 0 points. The rest were all tied with -1 points.

"Fairy Tail Team A wins this round, kabo!" Mato said. "Followed by Fairy Tail team B, kabo!"

The scoreboard read as follows:

Fairy Tail A – 30 points

Fairy Tail B – 26 points

Phantom Lord – 10 points

Lamia Scale – 6 points

Quatro Cerberus – 4 points

Blue Pegasus – 2 points

"Since everyone else tied for last place, they get the lowest amount of points, which is zero."

Out of the ground, Sol appeared, and pushed Levy down. "You think you're so smart, you stupid girl."

I turned to Laxus. "Laxus, get her, and punch him, too."

Not questioning me ( _finally_ ), he rushed onto the field in his Lightning body, and appeared at her side, right as Sol put his foot down on Levy's broken leg.

Levy let out a scream, and Laxus socked Sol in the face as well as electrocuted him, leaving him in a burnt pile on the ground. Laxus picked up Levy and activated his Lightning Body, speeding back through the tunnel and into the infirmary.

"Come on!" I told the others, and we all took off down the hall, not waiting to see what would happen with the crowd, though I could feel Makarov's magical power growing.

We burst through the infirmary door, and Laxus was laying Levy down on a bed while Porlyusica bustled about, grabbing potions.

"I've got a sleep card if you need it!" Cana said.

"No, I will be fine," Porlyusica said. "Laxus, move away, I need room to work!"

Laxus moved to the door where we were waiting, and Porlyusica gave Levy a potion that numbed the pain and slowly put her to sleep.

The door burst open, and Lucy, Brandish, Freed, Bickslow and Evergreen stood in the doorway. Behind them, I could see Macao and Wakaba, as well as Enno and Layla.

"She did well today," Porlyusica said, "But I'm afraid she won't be able to participate in the rest of the games. She won't heal in time."

She looked at Freed, who looked scared. "If this happened to Levy-san…I don't think I can do it."

I walked towards him. "Hey, Freed, don't worry. I believe you're ready. I think you can do it."

For a second, it looked like he was going to say yes, and participate, but then the fear was in his eyes again and he was crumbling to the ground. "I'm sorry, Ella-sama! I have failed you! I cannot do it!"

"Shhh, it's okay," I said, kneeling on the ground and embracing him. One arm wound around his back, and the other ended up on the back of his head, pulling him forward. "You don't have to participate if you don't want to. You haven't failed me. It's alright."

He continued sniffling. "It is?"

"Yeah, it is," I told him.

"But…Evergreen-san and Bickslow-san can't compete. An adult will have to compete, and it will ruin your plan!"

"Not necessarily," I said, getting an idea. "We….have one more option."

I looked up and met Lucy's eyes.

Her eyes widened. "Me? You want me to compete?"

I nodded. "I believe you're ready and you can do it. You were always going to join Fairy Tail, Lucy, we might as well skip ahead a few years."

She bit her lip. "You…you really think I can do it?"

I nodded. "Lucy, you're quite possibly the strongest Celestial Spirit Wizard in the world."

"I…I don't think so," she said quietly.

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Summon Crux."

Freed backed out of my embrace and we all watched (even Porlyusica, because she had set and wrapped Levy's leg). " _Open, Gate of the Southern Cross. Crux!_ "

Crux appeared in thin air, and Lucy smiled. "Hello, Grandpa Crux! Ellie-nee asked me to summon you!"

"Crux," I said. "Can you tell me what the record is for holding Zodiac gates open? Or just power for Celestial Spirit Wizards, in general?"

He paused. "Well, the most amount of power ever used by a Celestial Spirit Mage was when they used _Uranometria Nova_."

"Yes, I've heard of it," I said. "It's equivalent to opening all of the Zodiac at once, correct?"

"Yes, however it was only cast once, and it was done by five Celestial Wizards, something history generally neglects to mention."

Freed was paying close attention, and I turned to him and asked, "You want to take notes for Levy?"

He immediately nodded and started taking notes on what Crux said, because he and Levy both loved to learn new information and they hadn't gotten a lot of time to ask Lucy about her magic the other day.

"Alright, so there's that," I muttered. "No one has ever opened two Platinum gates at once, right?"

"Yes, that is correct," Crux said. "Up until now, the record for holding open gates was three Zodiac gates at once, and it was set by Anna Heartfilia, Lucy's ancestor."

"Did you hear that, Lucy?" I asked. "The record was holding three Zodiac gates open. And how many can you open?"

Quietly, Lucy requipped a key into her hand, and held it out. I recognized Scorpio's symbol on it.

I smiled. "You see? You've broken the record for holding gates open, Lucy, and you're _six years old_! No one else in history has ever been able to hold open four Zodiac gates at once."

Freed gasped, and he had stars in his eyes at the new information.

I rolled my eyes and turned back to Crux. "Is Lucy the strongest Celestial Spirit Wizard alive?"

Crux gave me an odd look. "I thought I made it clear that Lucy is the strongest Celestial Spirit Wizard in history."

That could be a bit of a problem, and I resolved to keep an eye on her, just in case.

I turned to Lucy. "So? What do you say? Will you join Fairy Tail, and compete?"

Lucy nodded. "Yes."

"Absolutely not!" came a voice, and Jude appeared in the doorway. "I refuse!"

"It's not like she has to move out or anything," I said. "Everyone else lives in Magnolia because they don't have family to live with, or their family is already there. She can stay at the Konzern and just come and visit every once and awhile."

"I don't want her doing this! She's too young!"

"I think she should do it," Layla said quietly.

Jude gasped. "Layla, how could you-"

"I want to do it, Daddy!" Lucy said. "It's my choice, isn't it? I want to do this!"

Jude looked at all of us, staring at him. "I don't-"

"I don't care!" Lucy yelled. "I want to be a mage, why won't you support me in this? Please, Daddy!"

With that, Jude caved. "Fine."

All seemed fine, but I noticed Brandish's depressed look.

"What's wrong, Brandy?" I asked her.

"Am I…not good enough?" she asked quietly.

"No!" I said, grabbing her shoulders. "Don't ever think that! I was going to ask you if you wanted to join Fairy Tail now, too! I didn't ask you about participating because you said you had some trouble controlling your strength, and because Lucy has been training for a lot longer than you. Alright? You're an amazing kid, Brandish, and in time you could easily become an S – Class Mage, alright?"

She smiled a bit. "Alright."

Without much more fanfare, Lucy got her stamp (same place and color as before), and Brandish got one in green (the same shade as her hair) on her leg. We ate lunch in the infirmary while we waited for Levy to wake up.

I was a bit surprised by how friendly Porlyusica was being, but it was a _big_ infirmary, so she could hide on the other side of the room if she wanted to.

Freed engaged Lucy in a huge conversation about Celestial Magic, and she ended up showing him how she can manifest it.

Levy finally woke up, and was upset that she couldn't participate, but she was happy for Lucy and glad that she got first place.

Eventually, it was time for the battle portion, and we split our separate ways, though Lucy ended up coming with us down to the field. Using my ColorS, I changed the color of her dress to gold, and before she left I told Layla to pick up some black leggings for Lucy.

As we walked down the field, Laxus turned to me. "Is there a reason you had me pick up Levy, instead of doing it yourself?"

I nodded. "Yes, and _thank you_ , _thank you very much_. I'm glad that you know when it's seriously time to listen to me."

"I told you, Elle," Laxus said. "I would listen to you. I know when to do it and when it's fine to not."

I smiled. "I don't know if you noticed, but I haven't teleported in front of anyone once. Even the commentators don't know how we exactly got first place, because it was too quick for them to notice. Though I'm sure they have their suspicions. I'm hoping to keep it a secret and use it in the future, because it will be a good asset. If possible, I'd like to hide it until the last day."

He nodded. "I see. That's smart."

Laxus was up first, and he was going up against Levy's Sensei, Clarke – who tried his hardest, but ultimately failed, putting us ten points ahead.

I think the most _shocking_ thing about the battle (hehehehehe, shocking) was the reveal of Laxus's Dragon Slayer Magic.

Honestly, I don't think any of us heard what the judges were really saying, because we were too busy laughing at their reactions, as well as the audience when Yajima explained about Dragon Slayer Magic.

Afterwards, Lamia Scale was up against Cerberus, and ended up losing. Pegasus lost to Phantom shortly after.

So the total for today read:

Fairy Tail A – 40 points

Fairy Tail B – 26 points

Phantom Lord – 20 points

Quatro Cerberus – 14 points

Lamia Scale – 6 points

Blue Pegasus – 2 points

The group of us headed inside and had a hearty dinner, with the rest of the kids and the Heartfilias joining us, along with Levy as she got some crutches. When it was time to split up, Lucy begged her parents until they gave in, and she and Brandish ended up joining us in our hotel room for the night. With two more people, we all climbed into bed together.

* * *

 **Alright people, second day! :).**

 **Thank you for all the wonderful comments, I eat them up like they're cookies. And from what I can tell from my schedule and the timeline I've created, you should get Gray by around next Friday.**


	33. The 1st Annual GMG: Day Three

**Chapter Thirty Three - The 1st Annual Grand Magic Games: DAY THREE - July 3rd, X773**

"Who's going today?" Lucy asked sleepily, as we made our way down to the stadium.

"Juvia is doing the games," Juvia said. "And Onee-sama is doing the battle."

"When will I be participating again?" Lucy asked.

"You'll be doing the battle portion tomorrow, and the big battle on the last day."

Though she looked frightened, she nodded determinedly, and it was probably a good thing that she had a one on one battle first.

We made our way to the field and I was happily surprised when I saw the giant bubble of water.

"We're in luck, today," I told Juvia. "This is your element. Make me proud. Also, know that no matter what you do, I will be proud and watching. Don't turn or get distracted by wanting to look at me. Focus on the game."

She nodded. "Juvia will not let you down."

I knelt and hugged her. "I know, Juvia. Good luck out there, and remember to have fun."

Juvia changed into a one-piece suit (which I turned black with a gold strip down it) and entered the water.

"And who's this little one?" Bob asked Makarov.

"That's Juvia! She just turned six a few months ago," Makarov said. "I know she'll do well."

"Oh?" Goldmine asked. "Why's that?"

"Her older sister is watching, and she wants to impress her."

"Is her sister not participating?" Ooba asked.

"Our guild functions a lot like a family. Juvia was brought to the guild by Elle, and so Juvia looks up to her and calls her Onee-sama."

"Kick their butts, Juvia!" I yelled loudly.

"Elle has been extremely proud of Juvia's progress in magic, because Juvia was born with her magic and had a problem controlling it when she was younger."

The other competitors entered, and Juvia started out almost immediately. "This attack was inspired by Onee-sama and Juvia's family! _The Love of Fairy Tail!_ "

A high-pressured explosion happened under the water, circling a bit like a whirlpool and pulling the contestants in before flinging them out in the opposite direction, using their own inertia and mass to throw them farther.

When the explosion finished, only three were left in the water – Juvia, a female from Phantom Lord, and Levy's tutor on Fairy Tail B, Clarke.

Distantly, as they fought, I started counting in my head.

We'd seen Hidden, Pandemonium, and the Naval Battle, even though they weren't in order. We had a mystery day, and it could also probably be expected that Chariots would take play.

The people who hadn't competed in the morning portion were Laxus, and Cana.

Great. Just…great.

I just really hoped Laxus wouldn't get Chariots.

Juvia threw an attack for the Phantom Lord mage, but it ended up pushing Clarke out of the water instead.

Mato announced the timer and explained the special rule, and Juvia sped up her attacks at the Phantom Lord mage, hoping for them to get last place again, especially after what they did to Levy the previous day.

Nothing Juvia did seem to work on the other mage, so she finally used _Water Lock_. Even though it was underwater, it cut off her opponent's air supply, and Juvia moved the ball of water outside and dumped her opponent out.

"Fairy Tail A wins, kabo! And because Phantom Lord was kicked out before the last timer ended, they get 0 points, kabo! Fairy Tail B gets 8 points, kabo! Since everyone else got out at the same time, they get 2 points, because they tied for second to last place."

The scoreboard changed to:

Fairy Tail A – 50 points

Fairy Tail B – 34 points

Phantom Lord – 20 points

Quatro Cerberus – 16 points

Lamia Scale – 8 points

Blue Pegasus – 4 points

I winced, feeling a bit bad for Lamia Scale and Blue Pegasus.

"And now we'll be taking our break before the battle portion! Kabo!" Mato said.

Juvia joined us and I gave her a huge hug and swung her around. "That was awesome, Juvia! You did amazing!"

Juvia blushed. "Thank you, Onee-sama."

Laxus whistled (damn show off) as he watched the scoreboard. "Can you believe we have 50 straight points? We haven't even finished today yet."

I shook my head and put Juvia down. "It doesn't matter. Right now, we've been getting good match up for morning games, and we've done well in the battles, but we could end up against someone super strong. We need to be careful, and just because we're so far ahead doesn't mean we can let up."

He nodded. "Understood." We started walking away from the field. "You're up today. Are you ready?"

I smirked. "Yeah. Honestly, I hope I get the Phantom mage, honestly. We've already fought Cerberus and the other Fairy Tail team, and Blue Pegasus and Lamia Scale haven't been doing too hot. I want to kick Phantom's ass."

"They deserve it," Laxus said.

* * *

After a nice lunch (which passed quickly), I pulled off my bracelet, letting my magic free again, and we were back on the field and it was my turn to participate.

 _Deep breath, Elle. You'll do fine_.

"First up, we have Elle from Fairy Tail A vs Sol from Phantom Lord, kabo!" Mato said.

I smiled. I had to give that guy a world of pain. My magic built up eagerly, ready to serve a beat down.

The minute the gong ran off, Sol was off, shouting, " _Melodie de la Vigne_!"

Two vines wrapped around my legs and began swinging me around, and I was reminded of the fight Lucy had with Flare. I was too shocked to move at first, and it took getting flung into the wall (which _hurt_ ) before I acted. " _Mars's Explosive Feet!_ "

Fire surrounded my feet and burnt the vines to ash, and (still using the spell) I hovered in the air above Sol.

" _Neptune's Sphere_!" I yelled, and it was almost identical to Juvia's _Water Lock_.

Despite surrounding him with water, nothing seemed to be happening, and I realized why a second too late.

 _A dummy_?

" _Platre Sonata!_ " Sol called, and I was hit with a fist like attack similar to my own.

I fell from the sky, and managed to brace my fall; landing on the ground safely.

" _Platre Sonata!_ " Sol cried again, and the fist came for me again.

 _"Earth's Green Fist!_ " I yelled, and the fists clashed until mine overpowered his.

"She beat me? Non, non, non!" Sol cried.

"I _will_!" I shouted.

" _Blinding Light of Venus!_ " I yelled, and the stadium exploded in light.

Good, it gave me a cover.

I teleported behind him, and kicked him in the nuts. Hard.

The light vanished, and Sol was on the ground, clutching his crotch.

"Why would you do that?" he cried, in an extremely high-pitched voice.

"That was for what you did to Levy!" I said, and stepped on his crotch, putting pressure on it. He let out a high, keening noise. "And _this_ is for being a dick to children."

There was a loud 'ooooooh' as all the men in the stadium winced in sympathy.

"And Elle wins! Kabo!" Mato exclaimed.

I let up my foot and walked over to the others, who were all happy at my win.

"You okay?" Laxus asked.

"I'm a bit scratched up, but I should be fine. I'll definitely be able to participate in the final battle!" I said happily.

He nodded. "Cana, Lucy, one of you take notes of the final scores; I'm taking Elle to the infirmary."

"I want to go with Onee-sama!" Juvia yelled.

"That's why I didn't include you," Laxus said, and we made our way down the hall.

"Onee-sama did awesome!" Juvia said. "Onee-sama, you used a water attack like Juvia's!"

I ruffled her hair. "Yep. Water is not _exactly_ the opposing element for earth, but sometimes earth users can't use it anymore once it becomes mud."

"Really?" Juvia asked. "Juvia did not know that."

Laxus nodded. "No, I've heard of that too. But then again, most water mages can't use mud, either."

Juvia nodded. "Juvia understands. Juvia will learn how to use mud!"

I laughed, and played with her hair some more. "That wasn't what we were saying, Juvia, but go ahead. If you want to, that's fine."

Juvia nodded. "Juvia will!"

"How about we wait 'til the games are over, alright?" Laxus asked.

Juvia nodded. "Yes, Onii-sama."

"Please stop calling me that."

"Tsundere."

"Am not!"

"What's all this shouting about!" a roaring voice asked, and I realized we were right outside the infirmary.

"Sorry, Porlyusica, but I had a bit of a rough battle, and I'd like for you to look me over," I said.

She nodded and stepped away from the doorway. "Then come inside. But BE QUIET."

I couldn't help but notice the way she would avoid looking at Laxus as she bustled around.

She didn't tell him yet, did she?

"I need to get some more things," Porlyusica said. "Don't move."

She left the room and Laxus breathed a little easier. "She hates me," he moaned.

Juvia was confused. "Doesn't Porlyusica-san hate everyone?"

"She likes Elle," Laxus muttered.

I sighed. "She doesn't hate you Laxus."

He opened his mouth to protest, and I took his hands. "Trust me on this. Please."

He looked away. "A…Alright."

"And Juvia, Porlyusica actually likes us a lot!" I said. "Otherwise she wouldn't come out here at all."

"You do have a bit of a point there," Laxus mumbled.

Cana and Lucy came into the room. "Alright, ready for the scores?"

We nodded.

"Fairy Tail A is in the lead with 60 points!" Cana said happily. "Followed by Fairy Tail B with 34. Quatro Cerberus moved up to third place with 26 points. Phantom Lord is at 20, having received none at all today, and Lamia Scale has 18 points. Pegasus is last with 4."

I winced. "Ouch, I feel kind of bad for them."

"Geez, why are they doing such a bad job?" Laxus asked.

"Probably because they're all hosts," I muttered.

Laxus blinked. "Hosts?"

I nodded. "Yeah, it's practically a host club."

"Onee-sama, what's a host?"

"You'll find out when you're a little older, alright sweetie?" I wasn't about to tell Juvia, Lucy or Cana.

Though, with Cana being Cana, it seemed likely enough that she'd find out soon.

Porlyusica came back in and handed me a potion. "Drink this."

I gulped it down. "I don't feel any different. What's it do?"

"Give it a minute," Porlyusica said, and we waited.

Finally, I glowed a nice, solid, forest green color.

"Good," Porlyusica said. "That means you're healthy. We use that potion to check for any internal injuries, and you would glow in those specific places if you did. Also, you'd be glowing anywhere from a yellow to a red color, depending on how serious it is."

I nodded. "Good to know."

She handed me one more potion. "Take this before bed – it should speed up your healing, and help to make sure you aren't sore tomorrow."

I nodded, and requipped it. "Thanks."

The door burst open again, and Levy, Brandish, Freed, Bickslow, Evergreen, Macao, Wakaba, Enno, Layla and Jude burst in.

Jeez, I think I'm just going to call them all something, this is getting annoying.

 _How about the Gang?_

 _No, that sounds stupid._

 _Well, it's not like we're going to be saying any of this shit out loud._

While my internal voices argued over nonsensical things, I smiled at the group in the doorway. "Hey guys, how are you?"

"'How are _you'_ she says," Wakaba muttered.

"We're here to see how you are," Macao said.

"No internal injuries," I said. "And I should be good to go in the morning."

I was suddenly tackled by a bunch of children, who were all saying something, though Freed's "Ella-sama I'm so glad you're alright!" was obviously the loudest.

"Guys, I'll be fine!" I said, laughing. "Just calm down."

They eventually let go, though I was scooped up in another hug by Layla, "I was so worried about the fight," she whispered. "I'm glad you're okay."

I sank into the hug, which felt nice and warm. "Thanks."

Jude looked at Lucy. "I'm more wary about you competing tomorrow. Are you sure you're okay about this?"

She nodded. "Yeah, especially since the only teams left for us to fight in a one on one battle is Blue Pegasus and Lamia Scale! I'll be fine!"

Jude looked worried, but nodded.

Makarov entered the room. "Good job, everyone!" he said.

"But we didn't win our battle today," Macao said. "Or yesterday, come to think of it."

"You're still in second place," I told them.

"Yeah, but aren't the teams going to be averaged, or something?" Wakaba said.

Makarov shrugged. "They're still a bit iffy in the explanation for that. I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

That night, before bed, the group of us gathered around for some conversation as I gulped down my potion.

"Is it just me, or do the mages seem a bit…" Lucy hesitated.

"Weak?" Freed asked. "I was thinking the same thing."

"That's part of one reason why I asked them to make the games," I said. "I want the competition to drive the other guilds into getting stronger. It'll be really embarrassing to lose to children."

"But couldn't it backfire, Ellie-nee?" Lucy asked.

"That's what the interview with Sorcerer Weekly is for," I said. "In it, we'll explain some of our methods, and we'll also say that we look forward to tougher competition the next year."

"I see," Levy said. She was separated from us, because Porlyusica had to put her leg in a cast, and we didn't want to get hurt in the night (like we had the night before).

"What do you mean _'asked_ ' them to make the games?" Laxus asked.

Oops.

"I mean…that I might have talked to the Royal Family and asked them to make the Games," I said. I shrugged. "Oops."

Laxus gave me a look, collapsed onto the bed, and said, "I'm going to sleep."

The girls giggled, and we all climbed into bed.

"Goodnight, everyone," I said.

"Goodnight!"

* * *

 **Sorry if there's typos, everyone. I'm falling asleep as I post this. I have a job now, so once the GMG arc is over, my updates will probably slow down a bit.**


	34. The 1st Annual GMG: Day Four

**Chapter Thirty Four - The 1st Annual Grand Magic Games: DAY FOUR - July 4th, X773**

Lucy was nervous, but it wasn't that surprising. It was her battle day, after all.

"Don't worry, you're going to be fine," I told her.

She took a deep breath and nodded. "Who's doing the game part?"

"I am," Cana said, and we neared the entrance to the field.

"Have fun!" I told her, smiling. "And remember – you don't need to be stronger to win. Just smarter."

She nodded, and entered the field along with the others. From Team B, Wakaba was participating.

"Alright, everybody, welcome to day four of the 1st annual Grand Magic Games, kabo!" Mato said. "Today we will be playing a game called _Hunt_. Kabo!"

So this was the unfamiliar one, huh? But that means….

I groaned.

Laxus got Chariots.

A jungle formed on the arena, and all the contestant were transported in.

"This game is pretty simple – there are over fifty magical items hidden in this jungle, kabo. You're going to be going on a treasure hunt for them, kabo. You have thirty minutes to collect as much as you possibly can, kabo. Go! Kabo!"

Cana closed her eyes and concentrated on the magical energy before taking off, and she slowly started collecting the magical jewels hidden under the surface. She had found five before she ran across another mage, and, smirking, she whipped out a Sleep Card and hit him with it. When the Lamia Scale mage collapsed, she searched him and came up with his jewels, and she got another eight.

She requipped all thirteen, to make them safe, and continued along, finding two more before she ran into the Phantom Lord mage and knocked him out too. She took his six, and ended up with twenty one.

Before she left, she hit him with _another_ sleeping card, so he'd sleep through the rest of the game.

Moving onwards, she spotted Wakaba taking jewels from the Quatro Cerberus mage and continued on.

She found another six before the gong rang, and she ended up with twenty seven.

Wakaba had the next amount with sixteen.

The next was the Blue Pegasus mage, with seven.

The Lamia scale mage had woken up and gotten three.

"Congratulations, on both Fairy Tail Teams taking the top two spots, again, kabo! And the Fairy Tail Kids are killing it at 70 points! Kabo!"

We really were. The scoreboard read:

Fairy Tail A – 70 points

Fairy Tail B – 42 points

Quatro Cerberus – 26 points

Lamia Scale – 24 points

Phantom Lord – 20 points

Blue Pegasus – 10 points

"Everyone, the games are breaking for lunch, and afterwards, today's battle portions will begin! Kabo!" Mato announced, and the five of us headed inside.

We met up with the rest of the group and gathered for lunch.

Makarov ended up joining us, eventually, and I said, "Hey, Master, if we get over 100 points, will you get us a giant trampoline that spans one whole side of the training room? And let me dig a hole for us to jump into? Don't worry, we'll fill it with foam."

He sighed. "Fine. If both teams' average ends up being over 100, I will get you a giant…trampoline."

The kids cheered, even though I'm certain none of them knew what a trampoline was.

Now that I think about it, I didn't know if Makarov knew what a trampoline was, either.

"Alright," I said, and mentally did the math needed for us to average out at one hundred, before whispering to Laxus. "We need another 88 points."

He nodded.

I turned to Cana. "Cana, I have a question. How much Sleep Cards do you have, and how long do they last?"

"How long do you need them to last?" she asked.

The final shouldn't take longer than an hour, right?

"An hour and a half to two hours," I whispered.

Just in case.

She nodded. "How many do we need?"

"Twenty. But if you could make thirty, in case…"

If they went by the same rules as last year…

5 x 4 alone was twenty. (5 leaders x 4 teams)

4 x 4 was sixteen. (4 members left per team x 4 teams)

That is thirty six points.

Add eighteen if we get first and second place in tomorrow's game – fifty four. Which means in order to get thirty four more points…

We needed to win every battle; the two matches today and the two tomorrow.

Geez.

This will be tough.

But we can probably do it.

Probably.

After eating, we headed back to the arena.

"I already told you this, Lucy," I said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You'll do fine."

She nodded. "Fine. Right. Right…"

Phantom went first, and absolutely crushed Cerberus. I couldn't help wincing at the absolutely _brutal_ beatdown, and I was a bit happier realizing that after this and what they did to Levy, Ame would probably demand they amend the rules for next year.

"Next up, we have Fairy Tail A vs Blue Pegasus!"

"See?" I whispered to Lucy. "You've got the easiest guild! This will be a piece of cake! Literally, I'll make a cake! After the games, though."

She giggled.

"Go get them."

"And it seems we have two new contestants from each team. From Blue Pegasus, Ichiya!"

Wait.

What.

What.

WHAT.

 _That_ was _Ichiya_? No fucking way, I refuse to believe that the absolute _hottie_ I was staring at was _Ichiya_.

No fucking way.

"Ichiya Vandalay Kotobuki, wow, talk about a long name, Bob!" Makarov said.

It _was_ him.

That's just fucking weird.

And…kinda creepy, even.

How the hell did he get so ugly? Was it because of his potions?

 _No, Porlyusica looks good for her old age_.

"Lucy," I whispered to her as she got on the field. "He's something called a Perfume Mage; try to stop him from sniffing his test tubes, because they can do things like enhance his strength."

"Got it," she said.

"Don't underestimate him," I told her. "He may be from Blue Pegasus, but he's strong. Also, if possible, don't show off _too_ much."

She nodded. "So they underestimate me," and strode onto the field.

"And from Fairy Tail Team A, we have Lucky Lucy Heartfilia, daughter to Jude and Layla Heartfilia of the Heartfilia Konzern and Railways, kabo!" Mato said. "Makarov, why is an heiress in your guild, kabo?"

"Because she belongs there!" Makarov bellowed.

The gong went off and the match started.

" _Open, Gate of the Golden Bull! Taurus!_ " Lucy called, summoning the giant cow.

"One of the Ecliptic Zodiac?" Goldmine shouted.

"How old is she, Makie?" Yajima asked.

"Lucy turned six about a month ago," Makarov said proudly.

"A six year old is contracted to one of the Ecliptic Zodiac?" Goldmine gasped.

"It's not that impressive," Jose said dismissively.

"Not that impressive?" Goldmine shouted. "Do you know how much power it takes to open one of those gates? Not to mention there's only twelve of them in existence! And she's _six_!"

Taurus hit the ground but Ichiya jumped, pulling out a tube and sticking it in his nose. He grew to a much larger height.

"Fine, I guess I'll just have to use more power on you!" Lucy yelled, and requipped another key. " _Open, Gate of the Scorpion! Scorpio!_ "

"We are!" Scorpio shouted as he appeared next to Taurus.

" _Two Golden Gates?_ " Goldmine screeched from the commentators' box.

Geez, I didn't know he liked Celestial Spirit Magic so much.

"Taurus, Scorpio, do unison raid, _Sandstorm Axe Aldebaran_!" Lucy commanded.

"Yes, Miss Luuuuuuucy!" Taurus said.

"A UNISON RAID!" Goldmine was yelling. "YOU CAN'T TELL ME YOU'RE NOT IMPRESSED!"

"I'm not, and stop shouting in my face!" Jose growled.

"A little six year old girl is supplying two golden gates with enough power to do a Unison Raid together. If you don't think that's impressive, then I don't know what is," Goldmine said, turning away angrily.

I was laughing again. "Ahhh, I never knew he was so passionate about Celestial Spirit Magic! Hahahahahah this is hilarious!"

Ichiya was hit with the Unison Raid but still managed to stay standing, and he breathed in another test tube – what for, I don't know.

"You leave me no choice!" Lucy said, and then, without closing the two Zodiac gates, she brought out another key.

"ANOTHER GOLDEN KEY?" Goldmine was screaming.

"STOP YELLING!" Jose yelled.

" _Open, Gate of the Snake Charmer! Ophiuchus!_ "

With Taurus and Scorpio clearly standing there, a giant magical circle appeared, and Ophiuchus came coiling out of smoke.

There was absolute silence.

"Well?" Goldmine said.

"It's a bit impressive," Jose squeaked.

All three of the spirits attacked together, and Ichiya lay out on the floor.

"The winner is Lucy-"

"I'm….not…finished…." Ichiya panted, standing up.

"Geez, you think the guy would've learned to stay down by now," Laxus muttered.

" _Open, Gate of the Eagle! Aquila!_ " Lucy cried, and gigantic eagle appeared.

Lucy pointed at Ichiya, and an enormous lightning bolt left Aquila and hit Ichiya, knocking him out.

"And the winner is Lucy Heartfilia, of Fairy Tail!"

Lucy thanked and then dismissed her spirits, and she came over to us.

"Ellie-nee, Ellie-nee, did you see that?" she cried.

I laughed and swung her around. "Yeah, I saw that. You were showing off, weren't you?"

She blushed. "Maybe, just a little bit. But I didn't use _Star Dress_ or _Urano Metria_. So it's not like I _really_ showed off."

That was right. Lucy had gotten _Star Dress_ the first time around after she sacrificed Aquarius's key, and opened three gates.

Now that she can definitely open four, I shouldn't be surprised at all that she got it.

"And you've mastered those?" I asked.

She nodded. "Yep, I've been training very hard."

"Good," I said. "And we can probably use them in the final."

I went back to thinking about my plan.

Fairy Tail B ended up going against Lamia Scale, and Macao, who was participating, easily defeated his opponent.

That was twenty more points for our team, so now we only needed 68 for the trampoline.

The end of the day's scores read as thus:

Fairy Tail A – 80 points

Fairy Tail B – 52 points

Phantom Lord – 30 points

Quatro Cerberus – 26 points

Lamia Scale – 24 points

Blue Pegasus – 10 points

Jeez, and just like that, Phantom Lord is tailing after us again.

Ugh, it gives me the shivers and some weird chills thinking that Phantom Lord is right behind us.

Just…ugh.

"Yeah, we're totally gonna win this!" Laxus said cheerfully.

"Yeah, but will we win the trampoline?" I asked. "That is the _real_ question."

"What _is_ a trampoline?" Cana asked as we made our way back to the others.

"I'll explain later tonight," I told her. "When everyone is together. But it will definitely help with our training _and_ be super fun! But I don't know how to make it, which is why I made the bet with Master."

"Do you really think we can win enough points?" Laxus asked.

"I've been coming up with strategies for the final battle, and I think we will," I told him.

"Lucy, I'm so proud of you!"

It wasn't Layla who said this, but rather Jude, who ran forward and scooped Lucy up in a hug. "That was amazing, and I'm sorry for dismissing you and your magic! You did a fabulous job, and I can't wait to see you get stronger!"

Lucy smiled and relaxed into her father's embrace.

* * *

Later that night, we all ate dinner and then gathered into the bed (with Levy still in a separate one) and I began regaling them with tales of trampolines.

"It's amazing!" I said. "You know how the bed bounces us a bit?"

They all nodded.

"A trampoline is made in a way to bounce you _really_ high. It's made for bouncing. So we can jump around on it, and into pits filled with fluff. It's really fun!"

Well, it _looks_ fun. I never actually got the chance, seeing as I was just the orphan kid looking through the gym window.

"That sounds really interesting," Freed said.

I nodded. "Freed, I was wondering if you could put runes on it to make it bounce us like crazy, and we play a game where we have to try to land on our feet?"

He cocked his head. "It's possible."

I turned to Evergreen. "It should help with your flying, too."

Her eyes lit up.

"It sounds like a lot of fun!" Levy said. Then she deflated. "But I'll probably have to wait a bit."

"Maybe," I said. "But it might be good for us to try it slightly impaired. I'm only worried about you flying and your cast hitting you and breaking another one of your bones or something."

"I may be able to soften it," Freed said. "Maybe…"

"Couldn't we just wrap it in fluff?" Cana asked.

I shrugged. "That could work. It would probably hurt a bit, and maybe leave a bruise, but it shouldn't be that bad." I turned to Levy. "It's up to you, Levy."

She bit her lip before shrugging. "It's not like I need to decide right now, is it?"

More than a few of us laughed, and we collapsed into our beds.

"Thank you," Brandish said.

We quieted down. "For what?" I asked.

"For being my friends," she said quietly.

We all rolled over to her and mobbed her with hugs.

"You don't need to thank us for that, silly!" Lucy said. "We'll always be your friends!"

"You're a member of Fairy Tail, Brandy," I said. "That means you're nakama."

She smiled. "Thank you, Nora."

"NORA?" everyone else cried.

"Oh, just shut up and go to sleep!" I yelled.

There were some scattered chuckles and mumblings. "Goodnight, guys," I said.

"Goodnight."

* * *

 **Hey guys. I'm glad to announce that I have over 200 reviews, and that by the end of this arc, we should be over 100,000 words.**

 **And thank you for all the support on my job and a slower schedule. You guys are the best. :)**

 **To the one guest reviewer who said I don't like Blue Pegasus - I actually love Blue Pegasus, but the best asset they have is Christina and the Trimens. They're not really meant for fighting - they're hosts. So even though I fucking _love_ the Trimens, they're not there now. So no.**


	35. The 1st Annual GMG: Day Five

**Chapter Thirty Five - The 1st Annual Grand Magic Games: DAY FIVE - July 5th, X773**

I groaned when I saw the chariots.

I had hoped that it was something else – so Laxus wasn't doing Chariots. That there was a small chance.

Unfortunately, it seemed he was going to have to get on them.

"I need to…what?" he asked, turning pale.

"You need to run a race on those chariots," I said, pointing at them.

"I don't want to," he said, panicking. "Can't Lucy do it?"

"Technically, Lucy is the substitute for Levy – who already participated in her morning game."

Laxus groaned. "What am I going to do?"

"Why doesn't Laxus just use his lightning body?" Cana asked.

Both Laxus and I paused.

"He'd still have to hit the ground," I said, "and the track is moving, remember? I don't know how it'd work."

"I'd still end up behind everyone else," Laxus admitted.

"Maybe not," Cana said, holding up a secret weapon.

"Well then..." I turned to Laxus. "How long can you hold your form?"

He shook his head. "I don't know, I've never really tested it!"

"Well," I said. "No time like the present!"

"How about those months when you were away?" he asked. "It seems like that would've been a pretty good time."

I grasped his shoulders. "Relax, I believe you can make the entire race. In fact, you might even be able to win the race! You just need to move as fast as possible, alright?"

He nodded, and just before he left our platform, I said, "Pay attention to the announcements, they probably won't start the race until you're on the thing."

"Got it," he said, looking sick.

"Good luck," I said, hugging him.

Reluctantly, he started hugging me back.

Damn tsundere.

"Aww, look at the cute moment between Elle and Laxus!" Bob said.

I flipped him off.

I let go of Laxus, and moved back.

Luckily, they didn't even start the race on the chariots. They started standing on the outside of it, and had to jump on it while it was moving.

The gong went off and Laxus threw down a pile of cards, immediately activated his lightning body, jumping onto the chariots and taking off.

When the smoke from the cards cleared, everyone else was unconscious. We weren't really worried about the other Fairy Tail team, because Rex, the Speed Mage, was participating for them. Because of that, they were likely to come in second place.

"Look at Laxus go!" Yajima said. "Very impressive. That was some tactic."

"He's just a stupid brat," Jose mumbled.

"You want to go?" Makarov yelled, and started growing in size. "That's my grandson!"

And then after passing several chariots, Laxus's foot hit the tack and he slowed down, sick. He began trying to activate his lightning and jump ahead again, moving along sluggishly the whole way.

"DAMN YOU, MASHIMA!" Makarov roared, holding Jose in a head-lock.

"DAMN YOU, MASHIMA!" I bellowed along with the rest of the guild.

"Who's Mashima?" Lucy asked curiously.

"Hiro Mashima is the person we blame all of our problems on," I explained.

"What are we blaming him for now?" Lucy asked.

"Laxus's motion sickness," I said.

Laxus managed to start up his lightning body again and surged ahead, the audience watching eagerly. He made it several more chariots before his foot hit the platform again and he slowed.

"You can do it, Laxus!" I shouted, holding my hand up in his sign.

I don't know if he actually heard me, but he pulled himself up, yelled, "For Fairy Tail!" And managed to start up again, shooting through another series of chariots before he flew off it and past the finish line, right as the other contestants were walking up.

As Laxus reached the arena, a full fight had broken out between Makarov and Jose, and Makarov was being held back by Yajima and Bob, while Jose was held back by Goldmine and Ooba, neither of which seemed to want to touch him.

Huh. Maybe _that_ was why the commentators weren't the guild masters.

Now that I think about it, it makes a lot of sense.

"And Laxus wins first place for Fairy Tail Team A, kabo! This means that Fairy Tail A has gotten first place for all morning competitions! Kabo!"

"What happened?" Laxus asked me, gesturing to the commentators' box, his color finally returning.

Cana, Lucy, and Juvia started giggling. "Master and Jose got in a fight," I said. "Because Jose said something about how you were 'just a brat' or something."

"Master said, 'you want to go', too!" Cana said, laughing. "He sounded just like you, Elle-nee-chan!"

Laxus sweatdropped. "Great."

Fairy Tail Team B finished next, and not too long after him, Lamia Scale's mage appeared. She was quickly followed by Phantom Lord, followed by Blue Pegasus and Quatro Cerberus.

Fairy Tail A– 90 points

Fairy Tail B – 60 points

Phantom Lord – 34 points

Lamia Scale – 30 points

Quatro Cerberus – 26 points

Blue Pegasus – 12 points

As Mato rattled off the new scores, I looked at ours. "One fifty," I said.

"What?" asked Laxus. The girls, who had been talking about something else, turned to listen as well.

"Our score total is one fifty. In order to get our trampoline, we need two hundred points. If we win both battles today, we'll only be left with thirty points."

"Can we get that much in the finale?" Laxus asked.

I nodded.

"Awesome!" Cana said. "We can totally do that!"

Juvia nodded. "Juvia will destroy her opponent for Onee-sama! For the tamproline!"

I smiled. "Tram-poh-lean," I said.

"Trampoline?" Juvia asked.

I nodded.

* * *

Mato dismissed everyone for the lunch break and we made our way down the hall to meet up with the others. It wasn't hard to find them, as Freed was loudly exclaiming about how brilliant his Ella-sama and Laxus-sama were about orchestrating Laxus's win.

"Actually, it was Cana's idea, Freed," I said as we came up.

Freed stopped gushing, but Gildarts started.

"MY LITTLE GIRL IS A GENIUS! SHE'S SO SMART …"

I honestly stopped listening very quickly, and went back to thinking about my plan for the finale.

I hoped it would work. I had scrapped my original plan because I didn't think it would be entertaining enough for all of the people watching - if we knocked everyone out all at once, it would just seem like we had the upper hand. So that plan was binned, and I worked on finding a way for it to be extremely entertaining, with no doubt on our victory.

And by victory, I mean with the trampoline.

I honestly didn't pay much attention to lunch, continuing to concentrate on my end plan, and I didn't even notice time passing until we hit the field for the battle rounds.

Though I did notice Brandish punching Bickslow in the face, for whatever reason.

You don't see much six year olds punching nine (nearly ten) year olds.

* * *

First up during the battle rounds was Fairy Tail B vs Phantom Lord.

Maggie, the Iron-Make Mage who I needed to talk to about her magic, was fighting, and easily won the match, scoring 10 points toward our trampoline goal.

Afterwards was Fairy Tail A vs Lamia Scale, and I froze a bit when I realized Juvia would be fighting Jura.

Who, as I mentioned before, (even as a teenager) had no hair.

"Juvia, remember what we told you about mud?" I whispered in her ear. "He's an Earth Mage, though I'm not quite sure how he will work with mud. I'm also not quite sure what would happen if one of his attacks actually hit your body, though, so be careful. Jura ends up becoming known as 'Iron Rock Jura', the Ace of Lamia Scale for his strength."

Juvia nodded determinedly and walked out onto the field. As they met in the middle, Juvia bowed to Jura, who, surprised, bowed back.

"Juvia is pleased to meet Jura-san," Juvia said. "Onee-sama has regaled Juvia with tales of your strength."

Jura gave her an odd look. "I am sixteen, Juvia-dono. I don't understand that of which you speak."

Juvia bowed again. "Juvia apologizes. Juvia forgets that not everyone knows of Onee-sama's gifts."

I facepalmed.

"Her gifts?" Jura asked curiously.

"Yes," Juvia nodded eagerly. "Onee-sama is extremely wise and powerful. Levy-san says that she is om-ni-shent. Though Juvia does not know what that means."

"Omniscient is generally used to describe someone who is all-knowing," Jura said.

Juvia nodded. "Juvia understands. Onee-sama knows a great many things, including some things which do not exist, which greatly puzzles Juvia. Onee-sama also knows a great many things about a great many of specific people, and you are one such person. Onee-sama has regaled Juvia with tales of your future strength, but Juvia will still beat you. For Onee-sama!"

The stadium was absolutely silent.

Most of them were staring at me.

Jura had a look of pure confusion on his face.

I sighed. "Can I just…go back inside?" I muttered quietly, trying to creep away.

"No," Laxus said, grabbing onto my shoulder.

Someone hit the gong, for the battle to begin.

As Jura sent the first attack towards Juvia, Cana started talking. "I mean, it's not like she's wrong."

"Yeah, I mean, you've full out admitted you know the future, Ellie-nee," Lucy said.

I sighed. "Yeah, but I didn't exactly want the _country at large_ to know."

Laxus snorted.

"How old is Juvia, Makarov?" Bob asked.

"Juvia turned six a little over two months ago. She was born with her powers, however."

I guess it's a good thing that Juvia practiced slicing through IRON with Levy, because they gave Jura his name because of how hard he could make his rock. Her _Water Slicers_ cut through it like butter, and Jura had to duck in order to avoid getting hit. In addition to that, Juvia was merely soaking the ground with as much water as she possibly could, so he couldn't use his element as well.

Juvia pulled out almost all her tricks – even going so far as to make herself sad, so it would rain.

But in the end, it didn't matter. Jura cast a rock made fist at her and won, and Juvia was on the ground defeated as she came back over to us, sluggish from the mud running through her. Next thing I knew, she was sobbing in my arms.

"Onee-sama, I'm so sorry!" she sobbed. "Juvia has failed her Onee-sama! Now Onee-sama will not get her trampoline!"

"Shhh," I said, hugging her and soothing her. "It's fine. It's alright. I didn't expect us to win every battle."

"But…but what about Onee-sama's plan?" Juvia asked, sniffling.

"We can adjust," I said, smiling down at her.

* * *

When the games were over, we trekked up to our room.

"Alright, everyone," I said, closing the door. "Today's scores read as thus:

Fairy Tail A– 90 points

Fairy Tail B – 70 points

Lamia Scale – 40 points

Quatro Cerberus – 36 points

Phantom Lord – 34 points

Blue Pegasus – 12 points"

A pause, and I looked at all the kids who were watching me. "We need forty points to get the trampoline."

"This isn't even about winning the games anymore, is it?" Laxus asked.

I snorted. "Please, like we'd lose. Anyway, we need forty points. Tomorrow is our day of rest. We will rest up our magic, and I will discuss the plan with you all. Alright?"

They nodded.

"Alright, everyone," I said, and climbed into bed.

I was suddenly surrounded by a glob of children.

My eyes met Laxus's gaze over the rest of the kids, and I mirrored his smirk with my own.

In two days, we would win the games.

"Goodnight!" I called.

"Goodnight!"

* * *

 **Ahhhhhhh I'm so so so so so so sosososososososososo sorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry!**

 **I'm not used to these weird shifts and the constant standing, and it's messing with my feet and sleep patterns.**

 **Before this, all of my jobs were office jobs.**

 **I'm sorry about the late update, especially since it's kinda small.**

 **I think there's two more chapters in this arc, and we'll be finished with the Grand Magic Games.**

 **According to Fairy Tail Wikia, Jura and Reedus were born in the same year, X757.**

 **Also, I would like to thank TigressinCreamSilk on Ao3 who inspired a bit of a change with Laxus's tactics for Chariots.**


	36. The 1st Annual GMG: Day Off

**Chapter Thirty Six - The 1st Annual Grand Magic Games: Day Off - July 6th X773**

The next day was simple, and we all sat around in our gigantic room. Freed had written runes all over the walls and doors, preventing anyone from listening in.

Freed, Brandish, Levy, Bickslow and Evergreen were there for support and also for suggestions.

Even though Enno and Reedus weren't competing, they were still barred from the room, as they were adults.

"Alright," I said, turning to the four who would be participating with me. "Who wants what team? You can take them on alone, or with a partner. Either is fine."

"I want Phantom Lord," Lucy said immediately, turning and smiling at Levy, who was hobbling her way over to hug Lucy. "As long as I can keep them all in one place, and maybe have someone guard me, I should be able to use _Urano_ _Metria_ pretty easily."

"What's that?" Brandish asked, interested.

Lucy gave a happy smile. "It's a super awesome spell Ellie-nee told Virgo to teach me. I can't wait to show it to you tomorrow, it's so pretty."

I snorted. She wasn't really wrong. "Got it; Lucy gets Phantom. Anyone else?"

"Juvia would like Lamia Scale," Juvia said. "But Juvia would also like some assistance…"

I turned to Laxus. "Feeling up to a Unison Raid?"

He smirked. "Sure, I'm always up for giving everyone else a heart attack."

I snorted, and turned to Cana. "Blue Pegasus, or Quatro Cerberus?"

She paused. "Do you think I'm strong enough to take on Quatro Cerberus?"

I nodded. "Yeah, don't worry, you should be fine. We can plan out particular attacks later."

I turned to Lucy. "Virgo can come out on her own, right?"

Lucy nodded. "Yeah, and Aquarius can too, but-"

"Wait, she can?" I asked.

Lucy cocked her head and nodded. "Yeah. The more powerful I get, the stronger my Spirits get. They'll be able to open their gates on their own and stay out for a much longer time, too. While I was practicing with Ophiuchus, Aquarius was also practicing her ability to come out on her own. She said it was 'in case I ever need it', and looked really sad about it."

I bit my lip and nodded. "Can you summon Virgo?"

Lucy nodded and summoned Virgo, who none of the other kids have met yet.

"Punishment, Princess?" Virgo asked.

"No, no punishment, Virgo," Lucy said, giggling. "But Ellie-nee asked me to summon you."

Virgo nodded and turned to me. "It is good seeing you again, Elle-sama. How have you been?"

I smiled. "Very well, thank you. Now, it's eleven years earlier, but Lucy is going to fight Phantom Lord in the Grand Magic Games."

Virgo's face hardened. "Understood."

"Lucy wants payback for Sol hurting Levy," I said, gesturing to Levy's leg. "So she wants to take them all at once with _Urano_ _Metria_. I want to know if you can come out on your own to guard her until she finishes the spell."

Virgo nodded. "It's possible, yes, but you know who would be a better choice."

It was a statement.

I nodded. "Yes."

"What do you mean, eleven years from now?" Levy asked. "What does that mean?"

"Time flows differently in the Celestial Realm, remember?" I said. "Most Celestial Spirits knows what's going to happen to the same point in time I do."

"From my point of view," Virgo said, "I've actually already met you all. Though, of course, I know much more about Levy-sama, as she is one of Hime-sama's closest friends."

At that, she abruptly disappeared and reappeared just as quickly. She handed Levy a potion. "Drink this. It will help you heal faster. While you will probably still be impaired for a week or two, your bone will be fixed within a month, definitely."

"I didn't know you could do that," I said.

Virgo nodded. "The King has allowed permission this time around, so I will freely be controlling Princess's dietary and fashion needs in the future, as well as many others. Now that we can freely access _everything_ in the Spirit World, she will be treated like the Princess she is!"

Lucy was blushing.

"Where am I?" Brandish asked sadly.

"Without Elle-sama's intervention, you would have never met Lucy until far into the future, and you wouldn't become friends for a very long time."

"Thank you, Nora," Brandish said quietly.

Lucy hugged her.

I turned to them. "Lucy, how would you like one more surprise to show Fiore tomorrow?"

She cocked her head. "What is it?"

"How many gates do you need to keep open for Monoceros?" I asked.

"Five," she said immediately.

"And how many can you open?" I asked.

She drooped a bit. "Four."

I nodded. "That's right. You can hold open four Golden Gates at once! And it would be impractical to pull out Monoceros in a fight anyway, because he takes up so much magic and he's used for a series of things that are mostly not battle-oriented."

Lucy was still sad. "So?"

I shrugged and smiled. "I can't give you Monoceros right now, but I can give you Corvus."

And with that said, I requipped Corvus's gleaming Platinum Key into my hand. He had told me, after seeing Lucy's battle from the Spirit World (where they apparently watch her life like it's Reality Television (which I guess it is, kinda)), that he was finally ready to make a contract with her.

I would also probably give her Pegasus, too, after the Games.

I mean, it's not like he comes out and spends time with me, or anything.

Though, I think he's able to.

"Corvus?" Lucy asked, shocked.

I nodded. "Yep. It takes, at _most,_ the strength of holding three Golden Gates open to utilize him completely in battle. In addition to that, he can come out on his own easily. He even taught me hand to hand combat, previously."

"Wow," Lucy said, and took the key as I handed it to her.

" _Open, Gate of the Crow!_ " she chanted, and a brilliant gleam filled the room. " _Corvus!_ "

Corvus appeared in front of us all, but his magical presence seemed much, much stronger than before.

"Hello, my Princess," Corvus said, bowing to Lucy. "I am quite impressed. I have never been summoned with this much power before."

He smirked. "Once we have a contract I can easily kick that Lion's ass!"

"That Lion?" Freed asked.

"Apparently, Corvus has a bit of a rivalry with Lo- with Leo the Lion. Probably because Corvus uses Shadow Magic, and Leo uses Light Magic. And also because, since Leo is the Leader of the Zodiacs and Corvus is the lowest of the Platinums, they're considered on par, and its unknown who is more powerful," I explained.

"Do you have Leo, Ellie-nee?" Lucy asked.

I shook my head. "No, I still need Aries, Leo, Libra and Pisces. Though Freed, Laxus and I will be going after Pisces next month."

"Can I come?" Lucy asked.

I shook my head adamantly. "No way. Cana was hit by a compulsion spell on the last expedition, and nearly touched an object with dark magic. As Celestial Magic is a pure magic, it will be a lot harder for a spell like that to get its hooks in you, but if you _do_ touch dark magic, it will surely affect you much worse than normal."

"Oh," Lucy said, slouching a bit.

"It's more than that, however," I said. "We might not even be able to go without Gildarts."

"Why?" Laxus asked.

I bit my lip. "I'll explain later, alright?"

The thing was…

Pisces wasn't exactly in Fiore.

While it was on Ishgar (the continent Fiore was on), it wasn't in _Fiore_. More than that, it wasn't even on _continental_ Ishgar – it was on an island off the coast of Caelum.

So yeah, that might be a bit problematic.

And after everything that happened at the last one…

Yeah, I'll probably have to bring Gildarts.

"Going back to the subject," I said.

Lucy nodded. "What days are you available?"

"Whenever you wish, my Princess," Corvus said. "My only wish is being able to come and go as I please."

She giggled. "Alright. Virgo does that, too."

Virgo nodded.

"What can you tell me about your magic?" Lucy continued.

"As Elle explained before, I control Shadow Magic. I can solidify shadows, I can control the shadows… I can turn myself and you (along with others) into a shadow and travel through them. I can also turn into a crow, and am a very good spy. In addition to that, I can control crows if needed, and use them to attack others."

Lucy nodded. "And do you have any weaknesses I should know about?"

"Yes," Corvus said. "Light magic. While, in general, I do not mind Light Magic being cast, especially if it provides me with shadows, if it's too powerful then there will be no shadows at all. If, for instance, Elle was to hit me with a pure beam of her Venus magic, I would be more likely to be returned to the Spirit World then, say, being run through by a sword."

Lucy nodded. "Got it," and put her notebook away. She paused. "Have you ever been run through with a sword?" she asked curiously.

"Several times," Corvus said. "I've gotten used to it. However, it has been awhile since I've been summoned at all, and I'll probably have to adjust to it again."

"I don't _want_ you to get run through with a sword!" Lucy said, shocked.

Corvus smiled at her, and suddenly he seemed to lose control. He grabbed Lucy tight and hugged her, squealing and spinning around.

What. The. Actual.

FUCK.

"My Master is the sweetest and most precious one in the entire world! She's the cutest and the strongest Celestial Mage ever! AND I GOT HER FIRST, TAKE THAT YOU DAMN LION!"

"What do you mean by 'first'?" Lucy asked, seemingly completely unperturbed at nearly being smothered to death by her spirit. Then again, I think I've done a few things similar. And Enno did that when they met…

Well, Lucy is a fucking adorable kid.

"In the last timeline, that damn Lion got to you first!" Corvus said angrily.

"Oh," Lucy said. "When did I get him and when did I get you?"

Corvus grew sad, and put Lucy back on the bed. "You got him when you were seventeen, and…well, you didn't get me."

"What?" she cried. "Why not?"

Corvus shrugged. "None of the Platinum Keys were found. We were all hidden too well. Elle only found us because she knows a lot of things and is stubborn as hell. And really loves you."

I blushed as Lucy tackled me. "Thank you thank you thank you Ellie-nee. Thank you so much!"

"Hey," I said, rubbing her head. "I love all you guys. You're nakama."

"I have a question," Freed said, and we all turned to him. He looked directly at me. "Ella-sama, you all speak as if this has happened."

I blinked. "It has, Freed. Time is only _experienced_ in a linear manner, and that's not even true for everybody. This technically has happened."

He shook his head. "No, what I'm saying is that this is different! You're different!"

He paused, his finger pointed at me, and silence descended upon the room. "Ella-sama…you weren't in the last timeline, were you? That's why you say, 'last timeline' instead of something like 'future possibilities'. It's not something we're all waiting to experience. This world has already been lived through a cycle once, and someone restarted it and dropped you in it."

His finger slowly lowered. "That's why you know so much. It's because you were never part of the natural flow here in the first place. You've slid in seamlessly, but you've already learned a large variety of things about this world before you arrived. That's how you know so much, and why you're so confused about certain things. Why you talk about things like 'balance beams' and 'trampolines'. Why you showed us those odd memories that you said were stories on your birthday."

There was utter silence in the room.

They weren't supposed to find this out.

"I should have known you'd figure it out, Freed," I said, giving him a sad smile. "I really should've guessed it would be you, Lucy or Levy, but I honestly thought I wouldn't have to worry about this until you were all a little older. You're right. I'm not originally from this world, and that's why things are different now. The Grand Magic Games, even all of you joining Fairy Tail – those were things that weren't supposed to happen for years."

"It doesn't matter," Juvia said softly, and she got up from the bed and hugged me. "Elle is still my Onee-sama!"

She had referred to me by name, and she had spoken in first person.

"Of course she is!" Lucy said happily. "This just proves Ellie-nee loves us! She came to join us and to make us all happier earlier!"

"You…guys aren't mad?" I asked.

"Why would we be mad?" Cana asked.

"I technically manipulated you," I said. "Yeah, I did it to make us all happy, but it's still manipulation. I knew what would make you all do certain things, and work harder, and I did them on purpose."

"So?" Laxus asked. "Anyone can do that if they know their friends well enough. It's fine. You've made us happy, and you made us strong so we can all fight to protect each other."

"I'm cool with it, Big Sis!" Bickslow said.

"Yeah, you were able to get me a lacrima, too!" Papa said happily.

"Honestly, it's not that surprising," Evergreen said, smiling softly.

"You gave me friends," Brandish said quietly. "And you introduced me to Lucy."

"You gave us our family," Levy said quietly. "We all love you, Elle-chan. You don't need to worry about that."

I smiled, and grabbed them all in a group hug. "I love you all, so _so_ much."

Fuck. I was crying again.

I had cried a lot in my last life, especially when I was hit by a particularly sad story, but I was really crying like crazy around these guys.

"How about we keep this one a secret, okay guys?" I asked, wiping away my tears.

Juvia blushed sheepishly. "Sorry, Onee-sama."

"Princess," Corvus said to Lucy. "I suggest that Virgo and I go back to the Spirit World. You've held us both out here for quite some time, and you've been stretching your container. You need to let your Magical Container refill for tomorrow's games."

Lucy nodded as we all separated from the hug. "Alright. I'll touch your key so you know when to come out on your own, alright?"

Corvus nodded, and he and Virgo disappeared in a flash of light.

* * *

After teleporting and grabbing Gildarts, who we then used as a giant magical battery, Cana had made the cards I needed for the plan (as they were some that she had to make in a specific way, or adjust).

And then I paused.

"Hey, guys, I kinda feel like I'm forgetting something," I said.

"Is it the other team?" Levy asked.

"Huh," I said. "Yeah, it is. Do you think we should give those idiots a chance to take out some guilds, too?"

"Like what?" Cana asked.

"Well, you could go with Lucy, and then they can split the team so they go after Blue Pegasus and Quatro Cerberus. I could be the 'jumper' – since I have emergency cards monitoring all of you, I would know if you need help or if something is wrong."

As if it understood what I was saying, my magic roared angrily under my skin, wanting to participate more.

I ignored it.

Cana turned to Lucy. "Want to do it?"

Lucy nodded. "Yeah, this sounds like fun!"

"Alright then," I said. "I'm going to go scare Team B into doing our bidding."

With that, I popped over to the others, and explained the plan very carefully to them – though I left out the final touch. Once they understood what was happening, Macao and Wakaba decided to go after Blue Pegasus, and the other three decided to go after Quatro Cerberus. I also took spare monitoring cards I had and linked all of them to them, so I knew what was happening.

I finished explaining, and popped back to our room, where it had already gotten late. Everyone was meditating, and I saw Lucy holding onto Horologium's key, which meant she was keeping track of the time.

Smiling, I sat and joined them. They were only doing the part of meditating that expanded a magical container, and filled it with energy. We weren't going to empty them if we had to fight tomorrow.

Eventually, Lucy signaled the time and we stopped. After ordering room service and eating pizza in our room, we curled up in bed for the night.

"Tomorrow, we show Fiore just what we can _really_ do," I said.

"Yeah!" Cana said.

"Juvia is ready!" Juvia said.

"Well," Lucy said. "Let's give them one heck of a show!"

Laxus just laughed, and the others just giggled.

 _Yeah_ , I thought. _We'll give them a show, alright._ "Goodnight, everyone."

"Goodnight!"

* * *

 **So...I didn't really expect for the kids to find out now, but if I go into my writing trance and get things like this, I keep them.**

 **So yeah.**

 **I didn't want to spoil the plans for the battle, so you've got to wait a bit. :)**

 **Also, I know that the kids are kinda overpowered, especially Elle, and I'm working on fixing that a bit. I do promise that when I'm done with this fic, I'll probably rewrite the whole thing. It'd mostly be the same, just a few more scenes and less time jumps and stuff.**

 **Just want to let you know.**

 **Also we probably won't get Ice Wizards for a while after the GMG. Like...chapter 45 or something.**

 **Sorry about that.**


	37. The 1st Annual GMG: Final

**Chapter Thirty Six - The 1st Annual Grand Magic Games: FINAL DAY - July 7th, X773**

"Good morning everyone, and welcome to the final day of the 1st Annual Grand Magic Games! Kabo!" Mato announced in the morning.

We had said goodbye to everyone else, and the five of us convened on the field. I put away the bracelet, and my magic hummed underneath my skin, eager to fight. I didn't want to disappoint it, but if all went as planned, I'd barely be using any of it. "You guys ready?" I asked, trying to push the feeling out of my mind.

"Hell yeah!" Cana said.

"Cana, what did I say about cursing!" I said.

She slumped a bit. "Fine, I'll wait a few more years…You've got the cards, right?"

I nodded.

"Here's how today is going to work, kabo!" Mato said. "Each team is displaced somewhere throughout the battlefield, and when the gong goes off, they'll take out other teams, kabo! If you take out the leader of the team, your team gets five points! Everyone else is worth only one point! Kabo! The leader is unknown. If an entire team is taken out, their score will solidify as their final score, kabo. Now, let the games begin!"

Fast as I could possibly be, I teleported to Phantom Lord and threw down two cards, before jumping away to Quatro Cerberus and doing the same.

Then I appeared back with the others, and Laxus showed up a second later, having done the same thing with Lamia Scale and Blue Pegasus.

"What's this?" Yajima asked. "It seems as if each team except for the Fairy Tail ones are trapped within a certain section."

"You are lucky!" Juvia hollered. "Onee-sama was kind enough to give them a fighting chance! Since she wanted to give you all a show, we didn't just take them all out at once!"

"Could you have done that, kabo?" Mato asked curiously.

All five of us nodded.

We could have thrown down sleep cards instead, knocking them out instantly, but instead we had Freed change specifications on cards with Cana so we could make rune walls.

I smirked. "Instead, you're going to see a show! Alright, guys, split!"

Laxus and Juvia went one way and Lucy and Cana went the other, with myself disappearing into the shadows.

* * *

Laxus led Juvia over to where Lamia Scale was trapped. He knew she was nervous - after fighting Jura, and losing, she was worried about going up against him again. Which was another reason why he was doing the Unison Raid with her - it would take him out.

And, well...he wasn't really worried about the rest.

"What's this?" Ooba yelled. "What are those children doing to my guild!"

He grasped Juvia's hands and faced the team, which was trying to throw magical attacks at them and break out of the rune barrier.

" _Unison Raid: Electric Water_!" They cast, and a gigantic layered magical circle appeared above them, inscribed with their magical signatures. It had been awhile since they fought against Gildarts - over half a year, at least, and he could feel the huge difference in the magical strength.

They had been powerful before, but it was even stronger now.

Hell, if Juvia wasn't made of water and as strong as she was, she probably wouldn't be able to handle all of the powerful, ancient Dragon magics running through her.

"Is that…a Unison Raid?" Yajima asked.

"Yes," Makarov said.

"Incredible," Yajima said. "Some people spend their entire lives trying to do Unison Raids, and a twelve year old and a six year old are doing it easily!"

Makarov nodded. "Yes, Juvia has quite the knack for them. She can do one with Elle, too."

There was a large explosion as their attack hit, and when the debris cleared, all of the Lamia Scale mages were unconscious. Looking up, Laxus pointed out the scoreboard to Juvia, which had frozen over Lamia's scores.

"And in one hit, Lamia Scale is out with 40 points, kabo!" Mato said. "And Fairy Tail Team A gets an additional nine points."

The scores changed.

Fairy Tail A– 99 points

Fairy Tail B – 70 points

 **Lamia Scale – 40 points**

Quatro Cerberus – 36 points

Phantom Lord – 34 points

Blue Pegasus – 12 points

* * *

I smirked as I listened to the Masters' comments.

One team down.

"Ouch. It seems that Fairy Tail Team B has taken out both Quatro Cerberus and Blue Pegasus. This puts Quatro Cerberus out at 36 points, and Blue Pegasus out at 12 points. It gives Fairy Tail B an additional eighteen points!"

Fairy Tail A– 99 points

Fairy Tail B – 88 points

 **Lamia Scale – 40 points**

 **Quatro Cerberus – 36 points**

Phantom Lord – 34 points

 **Blue Pegasus – 12 points**

Huh. That was a bit quiet.

Guess Team B isn't as destructive as us.

Though the newest generation had always caused more damage.

As Team B headed to my area and Laxus and Cana appeared next to me, Lucy and Cana took on Phantom Lord.

* * *

"Are you ready?" Cana asked Lucy.

Lucy took a deep breath and nodded, determined to do her best. "Yeah."

Cana smiled at her. "You'll do great!"

Lucy smiled back and prepared herself as they stepped out of the shadows in front of Phantom Lord's team. Since Cana was working as a guard, Corvus was staying in the Spirit World.

The other team immediately tried to throw a series of magical attacks at them, but Cana used her reflective mirrors to block them.

Lucy took a deep breath and started chanting.

" _Survey the Heavens, Open the Heavens..._

 _All the stars, far and wide..._

 _Show me thy appearance..._

 _With such shine."_

"What the…what the hell is this?" a Phantom mage screamed.

"NO WAY, I THOUGHT THAT SPELL WAS LOST!" Goldmine screamed.

Cana sucked in a breath at the magic of the spell. Lucy was right; it really was beautiful.

" _Oh Tetrabiblos..._

 _I am the ruler of the stars..._

 _Aspect become complete..._

 _Open thy malevolent gate._

 _Oh 88 Stars of the heaven..._

 _Shine!_

 _Urano Metria!"_

A magical explosion that could rival one of her father's attacks hit the other team, shaking the battleground, and Cana couldn't help but feel awe in Lucy's power.

 _I wonder how she would fare against Dad_.

* * *

"Wow!" Mato yelled as Phantom Lord's score froze. "And just like that, Fairy Tail has taken out all other teams, kabo! Congratulations, Fairy Tail, on win-"

"Hold it right there!" I shouted, just as Cana and Lucy returned. The five of us kids stood tall next to each other (while the other team mostly looked confused). "The games aren't over yet."

"What are you talking about?" Goldmine said. "Fairy Tail is the only one left standing."

"While that is true," I said. "Check the scoreboard."

Everyone's eyes looked up at the scoreboard.

Fairy Tail A– 108 points

Fairy Tail B – 88 points

 **Lamia Scale – 40 points**

 **Quatro Cerberus – 36 points**

 **Phantom Lord – 34 points**

 **Blue Pegasus – 12 points**

"Jose, I'm told you can count, is that right?" I asked.

There was utter silence.

I shrugged. "Alright, how about this. Master Goldmine, can you tell me what the total of our two teams are?"

He squinted at the board, coming down from the high of seeing _Urano Metria_ performed. "One hundred and ninety six. Why?"

"So…" I began to think. "That's…four short of two hundred."

"I don't understand what you darlings are talking about," Bob said.

I spun around and threw five cards at all of Team B. They hit the ground and smoke surrounded the other team; when it cleared, all five of them were clearly lying unconscious on the ground.

"ELLE!" Makarov yelled. "WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?"

"That is your fault!" I yelled. "Hey, Goldmine, how many points do we have now?"

"Two hundred and five?" he asked, confused.

"Makarov, your children are ruthless," Ooba said.

"And tell me," I shouted. "Is our average over a hundred?"

"Yes," Goldmine said, still confused.

The group of us went up in cheers.

"What just happened, Maky?" Yajima said.

Makarov sighed. "This is my fault. I told the kids that if Fairy Tail averaged over one hundred points I'd get them a trampoline."

"TRAMPOLINE!" all of us shouted.

"What's that?" Bob asked.

"I have no clue," Makarov grumbled. "However, since they were on different teams, they realized they could still take out Team B and receive the points. It was probably Elle's idea."

"You're not wrong!" Laxus yelled.

We started cheering, jumping up and down in the air. "TRAM-PO-LINE! TRAM-PO-LINE!"

"Alright, I'll get you brats a damn trampoline!" Makarov shouted.

"YEAH!" we all screamed.

"Fairy Tail wins! Kabo!" Mato said.

And the game ended in confusion for just about everyone else.

* * *

"What happened?" Macao groaned as he woke up.

"The kids sold you out for a trampoline," Enno said at his side, laughing.

"The hell is that?"

"I don't know, actually."

"Don't worry, we'll let you guys use it," I said.

"But we won, right?" Macao asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

I snorted. "Duh."

We had met up with everyone else on the way back to the infirmary, with Makarov using his Titan Magic to carry all the unconscious members. When we regrouped, the other kids started cheering at us, and Jude started turning into Gildarts with all his babbling about his daughter.

Then again, _Urano Metria_ is a pretty badass spell, so I get where he's coming from.

"Now what?" Macao asked.

"Now, we wait, and the teams get to go to the banquet!" Enno squealed. She turned and pinned a glare at Macao. "And they get to take dates. Dates that the kingdom going to dress up professionally. They'll even let them keep the dresses." She leaned in close to Macao. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"No?" Macao squeaked.

Enno grabbed his shirt. "I'm telling you that I'm gonna be your date, dumbass!"

"You are?" Macao asked.

Wakaba, who had woken up and watched the entire trainwreck, hit Macao and turned to Enno. "He says yes."

Enno nodded and smiled, before leaving the room, a little skip in her step.

"What just happened?" Macao asked.

"You're going on a date with Enno, idiot," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Don't call me an idiot!" Macao said.

"No, she's right," Wakaba said. "You're totally an idiot."

I laughed and joined the others.

* * *

We spent the rest of the day relaxing in the hot tub at our hotel, and planning how we were all going to get to go to the banquet.

"My parents were invited," Lucy said happily. "So I can take another one of you guys!"

"I'll take Freed," I said.

"Thank you Ella-sama!" Freed said, crying.

I sighed. "Freed, Lucy is going with Brandish and Juvia is going with Levy. Please don't see anything in this."

"Oh, I never would!" Freed said eagerly, nodding. "Ella-sama is meant to be with Laxus-sama! I would never interfere!"

Laxus and I froze.

"Oh, Onee-sama and Onii-sama!" Juvia said eagerly. "Juvia ships it!"

I turned to her. "Where did you hear that phrase?"

"Cana-san!" Juvia said happily.

Cana shrugged. "I heard you mumbling those words awhile back. It's about relationships, right? Who you think would be a good couple?"

I frowned. "When the hell did I say that?"

"Macao and Enno," Levy said.

"Huh," I said. I turned back to Freed. "Anyway, Freed, Laxus and I are too young for that stuff! I mean…in the future maybe, don't get me wrong, Laxus is a great catch! I mean…um…"

"What do you mean by that?" Laxus yelled, horrified.

Right. Twelve year old boy. Girls have cooties.

"NOTHING! SHUT UP YOU DAMN TSUNDERE!"

* * *

….That night Laxus was on the other side of the bed, far, far away from me.

Freed was in a timeout, and had to sleep all alone, which he agreed he deserved for making it awkward.

The thought of me and Laxus as a couple was weird.

Especially because I was mentally twenty.

You know...I think. There _are_ some points where it seems like I've never regressed to my physical age.

Maybe in a few years…

 _NO. Bad Elle!_ I mentally shouted at myself.

"Goodnight everyone!" I all but shrieked from my place in bed.

"Dragon ears, Elle!" Laxus said.

I winced. "Sorry. Let's just…go to sleep, alright?"

* * *

 **Freed's in a timeout. :(**

 **And... That, my friends is how you trick your guildmaster into giving you a trampoline.**

 **And here's some Ellaxus for Bnemesis.**

 **One more chapter, which is the ball, and that's the end of the GMG.**

 **Also sorry about the wait. But now that I've adjusted to my job (you know...sort of), I should probably be getting a chapter out every other day or so.**

 **Also my anxiety is acting up so lots of lovely and fluffy comments from you guys would be appreciated. I love you all! :)**


	38. The 1st Annual GMG: The Ball

**Chapter Thirty Eight - The 1st Annual Grand Magic Games: The Ball - July 8th, X773**

That morning, the group of us woke up and headed to the castle.

I was taking Freed, Laxus was taking Evergreen, Cana was taking Bickslow, Juvia was taking Levy and Lucy was taking Brandish. That way all of the kids were able to get in, and Maggie agreed to take Reedus so we were all together.

The moment we entered, the girls were separated from the boys, and we were surrounded by maids and servants who did this sort of thing professionally - though Lucy insisted on Cancer doing our hair.

At some point, while we were all beautified – though I gave the maids a strict warning about not going to far (we weren't going to be a bunch of beauty pageant mishaps) – Enno, Maggie, and Layla joined us.

"Oh, Ellie-girl, you look so pretty!" Enno squealed, having spotted me first and giving me a huge hug.

Looking around, she started fawning over all of us being adorable children.

After a lot of indecisiveness over what to wear, Levy suggested we pick each other's dresses, and we agreed.

Or, at the very least, the color to wear.

So, in order from youngest to oldest, we decided what to wear.

Levy went first, and after a lot of arguing and picking things out, we decided she should go in orange.

After that was Lucy, who had already picked out a dress to wear - she just wanted us to pick a color. We eventually decided on a light pink with dark pink accents.

Juvia, unsurprisingly, ended up in dark blue, matching her eyes and the necklace she found in the treasure, leading to an explanation of treasure for Brandish and Lucy and a search through all of my treasure for their own necklaces, which led to Lucy finding a gold necklace with a pink pendant.

Brandish (whose birthday was in February) had a silver chain with a green gem the color of her hair, which she ended up wearing with a silver gown.

Cana ended up in purple, matching her eyes and her amethyst necklace, and Evergreen, of course, ended up in green.

And then it was my turn.

There was some arguing over my dress, but eventually they decided on a dress that matched the purple color of my hair and had accents the color of my eyes and moonstone necklace.

All in all, with my hair done in beautiful curls, I felt prettier than I've ever felt in my life, and I was only ten years old.

Enno, who was in a gorgeous red dress that still allowed her to move as she wished, was extremely happy with her get-up. Layla and Maggie stood beside her, Maggie in a light blue dress that made her eyes pop and Layla forgoing her usual pink for a goldenish dress, probably so it wouldn't seem like Lucy was copying her.

They led us outside, where all of the boys were waiting for us. Jude and Gildarts burst into tears upon seeing their daughters (even though Jude sees Lucy dressed up all the time), and Macao seemed brain-dead upon the sight of Enno.

Rex didn't seem to have much brain cells when it came to Maggie, either, so I kept note of them for a possible couple.

Laxus, Freed and Bickslow, who were all wearing suits, looked like rather adorable children, which was probably obvious just from the level of squealing and hugging coming from me. "Oh you guys look so so so so so so cute!"

I had squealed over the girls earlier, so they were out of my system.

"We're not cute, Big Sis!" Bickslow said.

"Fine, you look like very _handsome young men_ ," I said, smiling at them and fixing Bickslow's bowtie.

Freed seemed to be crying in pride, and Laxus was blushing and looking away, trying not to meet my eyes.

"Alright, picture!" Reedus, who was dressed as plainly as he could get away with, said. All of the kids gathered for the front row, and behind us were all of the adults, including Layla and Jude, who Gildarts insisted join the picture. The rest of Team B was there too, and Makarov was down in the front row with the rest of us kids, shorter than all of us except Levy.

Makarov even pulled Porlyusica into the picture, and he seemed to be taking her as his date to the ball.

Reedus allowed us to talk as he painted, and even still, it didn't take long at all. Within several minutes, the painting was done enough that he allowed us to leave, though Makarov did have him snap a picture so he could brag about Reedus's likeliness.

The group of us left and joined the banquet hall, where the other teams were mingling. Goldmine and Bob were standing off to the side, having a conversation, and I saw Makarov pull Porlyusica into the room. Goldmine and Bob seemed quite overjoyed to see her, probably since she spent so much time the woods.

"Elle, you look beautiful," said a voice, and all of us turned to see Ame.

"Thank you, Queen Ame," I said, curtsying.

"Elle, you don't need to be so formal!" she said, laughing.

"Are you sure you should be at the party?" I asked. "I mean, Hisui…"

Ame nodded. "Yes, the doctor believes that Hisui will be coming late, and that she won't be born until August. I refused to be cooped up and not attend a party in my own castle!"

I laughed. "Did you enjoy the games?"

She nodded. "Yes, and I think Toma had quite a lot of fun as well." She winked.

The adults behind me were more shocked than the kids. After all, the kids already knew about me starting the games, and speaking with the Royal Family about them.

"Ame, I'd like for you to meet my nakama," I said. "This is Levy, Lucy, Juvia, Brandish, Cana, Evergreen, Freed, Bickslow and Laxus."

She gave a little curtsy. "It's nice to meet you all."

The kids broke out of their stupor and tried to bow or curtsy. "It's nice to meet you too, Your Majesty!" and "It's an honor!" rang out, along with other statements. The only ones even slightly composed was Lucy and Freed.

She giggled at the sight.

Jura approached our group. "Juvia-dono, Laxus-dono."

They turned to him.

He bowed. "I wanted to say that you had a very impressive Unison Raid, earlier."

"Thank you, Jura-san," Juvia said, bowing back.

Laxus gave a nod to Jura. "Thanks. Your magic isn't too shabby, either."

I snorted. "Just give him a proper compliment, you damn tsundere."

"Not a tsundere, Elle," Laxus growled, a tick mark appearing on his forehead.

I couldn't help laughing.

My plan was going perfectly, so far. Everyone was a lot stronger, some of them catching up pretty quickly to where they were before. In addition to that, we had won the Grand Magic Games, and created a huge spectacle while doing so.

And even better than that:

We got our trampoline.

* * *

The food was delicious, and I made a note to try and get the recipes from the chefs, if possible. The rest of the kids seemed to be enjoying it, too, and it seemed like Laxus was trying to sneak away all the food he could eat before someone told him off for his empty hole of a dragon slayer stomach.

And then came the dancing.

None of us really knew how to formerly dance (except Freed and Lucy, who still had some etiquette lessons), but we all tried anyway.

I danced with all of the boys, and let me just say now, Laxus was by far the worst.

Reedus decided not to dance, and Rex seemed occupied following Maggie around, losing his brain cells.

Macao and Wakaba danced with all of us kids, and I must say that they did a pretty good job, (though Wakaba told me it was because Macao wanted to impress Enno).

Freed, though stiff, was also graceful enough, probably from his training. While Bickslow had no idea what he was doing, he was nimble enough to avoid my feet.

Laxus was not.

"That's my foot!" I hissed.

"I'm trying my best!" he hissed back.

 _Then try to best of someone better!_ I wanted to say, but didn't, because he wouldn't get the reference.

I missed YouTube. YouTube probably could have taught Laxus how to dance.

I could just tell my feet were going to be sore by the end of the night.

As for the girls, we mostly held hands in a big giant circle and skipped around a lot. Just about all of us were red-faced and tired by the end of the night.

* * *

Halfway through the night, a guard came to me with a time: Midnight.

Not long after arriving, I had asked a guard to deliver a message to Toma, telling him that I wanted to speak to him privately.

Now I knew when.

The banquet, which started at six and ended at eleven, finally finished, then it was the time for everyone else to return to our hotel.

"Guys, I'm going to be a bit late," I told the kids. "I have some things that I need to do, alright?"

"What sort of things?" Laxus asked.

"THINGS," I said.

He sighed and everyone else giggled, and we split ways.

Makarov just sighed, and pretended not to notice.

I was lead to a private room by a guard, and not long after, Toma entered.

"You wished to see me?" he asked, however it was much more cordially than my last visit.

"Yes, Your Majesty," I said, bowing. "I have news of the future we must discuss."

He quirked a brow. "And Ame isn't here because..."

"Because it concerns her," I said.

He paused, interested.

"I don't have any information regarding the Royal Family until X791 in the previous timeline," I continued. "I'm here because I want to warn you. Please do not take this as a threat, because I care about her, too. But in the Year X791, there is no Queen of Fiore."

It took a bit for Toma to process this before he began yelling. "Warn me? WARN ME? For _what_? So I can just accept the death of my wife?"

"Of course not!" I said. "I don't know what happens to Ame. I don't know if she dies, or when she dies, or even anything about her! I didn't even know her name until I met her! I'm saying that I want you to have the best healers on staff, in case she originally dies in childbirth. I'm saying that I want you to get your guards better training!"

The tension eased between us.

"I don't _know_ what happens to her, Your Majesty. And that makes it harder to prevent it. But I want you to be on guard for anything."

He hesitated before nodding. "Is there anything else I can do?"

I paused. "Do you know of any mages especially good with wind?"

He thought. "Aria in Phantom Lord is particularly good with air."

I shook my head. "No way. Do you know anyone unaffiliated?"

Toma hesitated. "I believe I overheard conversation on one of the guards' children. One of them has been getting into disagreements because his son wants to be a guild mage, but his father wants him to join the Rune Knights because he's particularly talented for his age. Now what was the child's name? Erigan?"

My heart just about stopped. "Erigor?"

He nodded. "Yes, I believe that's it. Why?"

"Just...something that could come in handy," I said. "After all, I need to learn Saturn."

We bid our goodnights, and I teleported back to the hotel. It would be too late to speak with Erigor.

I wish that there was more that could be done for Ame - after all... Healing Magic was lost.

Chelia wasn't even born yet, and Wendy wasn't in this time.

And they were the only Magical Healers I knew.

Yes; Healing Magic was lost.

But so was Planetary Magic.

It was Saturn's second most difficult spell, right below _Saturn's Tornado_ , and if the comparison of the book was right, it would take more power than either Venus's or Pluto's highest spells. It could quite possibly be the hardest Planetary spell because of it's difficult nature, and precision.

 _Saturn's Healing Winds_.

So I needed to learn Saturn by the end of July, if Hisui was to be born in August.

Just in case. Just in case.

* * *

 **I got something of a mean PM, so some happy encouragement would be nice. The thing about writing is that you start off doing it for yourself. But then other people get hooked, and you start doing it for them, too. And then you get a bad comment and you start to think... Nobody likes this, and I know I'm doing this for _me,_ but I don't really matter, so should I even continue? I look through old reviews to encourage me, but then I worry about the newer chapters.**

 **So, uh...even if you don't know like normally review, even just a tiny thing like "I'm reading and still want more" or something would be nice.**

 **And the 'prettier than ever' thing is based on the fact that I, like Elle, am nineteen, and the prettiest I have ever felt was when I ten and was the flower girl for my uncle's wedding.**


	39. Aftermath

**Chapter Thirty Nine - Aftermath**

"Who are you and why are you in my room?"

Erigor was surprisingly alright with me breaking into his room. Despite his line of questioning, he seemed extremely calm.

"You know," I said. "You don't seem all that surprised by me being in your room."

"Oh, well..." he said sarcastically. "You see, I have prepubescent girls breaking into my room _all_ the _time_."

I rolled my eyes. "Did you watch the Grand Magic Games?"

"Yes," he said.

"Then you should know who I am," I said. "I need help learning Saturn, which is Wind Magic. I was hoping that you could come to Magnolia within a week or so to teach me. I'll give you a place to stay and everything."

Even though he was extremely suspicious, the fifteen year old eventually agreed to come to Fairy Tail, within the next week or so. Though I wish he could have come sooner, I said goodbye and left.

* * *

Before we parted ways with Lucy and Brandish, there were some things that I had to do.

One of them was present Lucy with Pegasus.

"For helping us win the Grand Magic Games," I said, smiling.

Lucy took the key and tackled me, and I hit the ground with the breath knocked out of me. "Oh, Ellie-nee, thank you thank you thank you!"

I laughed and wrapped my arms around her, pulling us back up. "Yeah, well, you deserve it. And you have enough strength to open the gate. First, though, I need you to summon Corvus."

Lucy nodded and pulled out the key. " _Open, Gate of the Crow! Corvus!_ "

He didn't end up being used in the games, but I made sure to subtly drop hint near Goldmine that Lucy was contracted to a Platinum key as well.

He out-rightly fainted, hahahaha.

"Yes, Princess?" Corvus asked, appearing.

Lucy pointed to me, and his face fell. "Oh, it's you."

"Gee, thanks," I muttered. "Anyway, I have a question. One, is there any spirits that are particularly good at ballet, that can come out on their own or I could summon myself?"

He smirked, and started cackling, pointing his hand to the heavens. "Finally, I have revenge!" He stopped cackling and looked at me, still smirking and lowering his arm. "THAT DAMN LION!"

I paused. "Are you telling me Leo the Lion knows _ballet_?"

He nodded. "Leo knows a lot of dance, actually. Part of the reason he wears that damn suit. He's great at ballet, and he's not _that_ ashamed of it, or anything."

I nodded. "Got it. I'll get his key soon. Also, I have another question."

"Yeah?" He asked.

"The Zodiac Keys take approximately the same amount of strength to summon, right?" I asked.

He shrugged. "More or less. Some of them take a little more energy, but only about the amount of energy as opening up a Canis Minor. Why?"

"Should I give Lucy the Platinum keys when she can open all the necessary Zodiacs, or should I instead wait for her to be able to open both Platinum keys she's contracted to?"

"What?" Lucy asked. "You mean…you won't give me Monoceros until I can open Corvus _and_ Pegasus? That's the strength of seven Zodiacs! That's two more that's needed!"

I shook my head. "No, not Monoceros. I promised I'd give him to you when you can open five Zodiac gates, so you'll get him then. I meant for the others."

Corvus shook his head. "I don't think it will work. Keep them separate; give them as she's ready. If you do it the other way…it will be too hard for her."

I nodded. "That's what I thought, but I wanted your opinion." I turned to Lucy. "You'll be getting your Platinum keys when you're strong enough, alright?"

She crossed her arms and huffed. "Good. You're already rounding up a bit. I only need the strength of four gates to _open_ Monoceros's gate, and five to use his strength."

"I know that," I said. "And I'm not surprised that you noticed that, but I want you to be able to take it all, just in case."

Lucy nodded, letting her arms down, and we said goodbye and went our separate ways.

* * *

I ended up teleporting Laxus back to Magnolia early, because he was dying when he tried to sit on the train.

While he waited in the training room, I made a giant chart on a wall that wasn't used.

"What's that?" Laxus asked.

"Our ranking," I said. "This is how strong we were by the _end_ of the second timeline. And this is where we are now."

There were seven columns, and in the middle, from bottom to top, was D, C, B, A, S, SS, and Wizard Saint.

On the left, I started pinning people in the proper places.

"Gildarts becomes one of the Ten Wizard Saints?" Laxus asked.

"No," I said. "But he was on or above that level at the end."

" _I_ was on that level?" Laxus screeched.

"Mmhmm," I said. "I'm pretty sure there was talk of making you a Ten Wizard Saint, but they faded out. But then again, the Magic Council ended up a bit busy at that point…"

…Seeing as, you know, they were all blown up by Jackal.

"How am I supposed to get stronger than that?" he yelled.

I rolled my eyes. "Geez, you can always get stronger. Calm down."

Laxus continued to watch as I pinned people up on the board, and looked surprised at a few. "Are you sure about Macao and Wakaba?"

"Yep," I said.

"Then, they're probably stronger this time around, aren't they?" he asked.

I nodded. "Mmhmm."

When I stepped back, I had everyone ranked.

In the top section, for Wizard Saint Level, there was Makarov, Gildarts, Laxus and Brandish.

" _Brandish_ was on my level?" Laxus asked.

I snorted. "Brandish was _higher_ than you."

Underneath in SS, was Cana – once she had gotten _Fairy Glitter_ , her power jumped her up even more, and by the time that Alvarez came knocking, I would place her near the bottom of SS Class.

In lower S Class, were Juvia and Freed.

In high A Class was Bickslow, and in low A Class was Evergreen.

Levy was in high B Class, and Wakaba and Macao were in middle B Class.

Reedus was in high C Class.

"Am I missing anyone?" I asked.

"Enno," Laxus said.

I shook my head. "I don't know what happens, but Enno isn't a member of the guild in the future, so I can't put her on here."

"What about Lucy?" Laxus asked.

I bit my lip. "I'm having trouble with her. Because of the pure magical power she uses when she summons spirits, she could be very high on the list. And since she also has _Star Dress_ and _Urano Metria_ …I'm giving her mid S Class."

I put the tiny sticker with Lucy's face on it near the line between S Class and SS, but still in the S Class category.

"And what about where we are right now?" Laxus asked.

I stuck Makarov in the 'Ten Wizard Saints' category, and put Gildarts's pin on low SS Class. "When Gildarts first arrived – back when we fought him the first time, he was probably just really high S Class. Now I'd say he's low SS Class."

I looked at the others. "Let's see…Lucy's is at about the same point; she has more strength and power, but less experience, and using your wits in battle is always good." I pinned hers in low S Class.

"Jeez, I can't believe you've already put Lucy at S Class."

"You need to remember we have no experience, Laxus," I said. "While Lucy has _strength_ that rivals an S Class wizard, she's never fought in a real battle before, so _actually_ fighting her is probably more like fighting a high B Class wizard."

At that, I pulled off Lucy's sticker, cut it in half, and put on back in the S Class and the other in high B Class.

"The same goes for the rest of us," I continued, putting both my and Laxus's pins in the low A spot. "Right now we don't have a lot of experience, but we've still had a little more than Lucy – which is why we can fight to our full strength."

"Are you sure that we're not higher?" Laxus asked.

I nodded. "Back where I came from, if everyone was on the same level, people would curve everything up so it was a higher score, because they did as well as the others, so it became a new average."

Laxus frowned. "That seems kinda stupid."

"In some cases, it is," I admitted. "In others, though, it's helpful. But what you're doing is mentally curving us up because of our age. If you look at our powers from the perspective of adults - if we were just like everyone else, this is where we would be."

"But we're not like everyone else," Laxus pointed out.

"I know that," I said. "But the thing is that we still need to measure on the same level. We're kids, and we do get a bit of the element of surprise because of how young we are and how strong we are, but we still need to compare on the same level. Understand?"

Laxus nodded.

I continued down the line, and put Cana in a high B and Juvia in the middle. After a moment of thinking, I put Levy down in between the middle and the bottom, and put Freed as a low B, barely a smidge lower than Levy.

"They're pretty close," I said at Laxus's questioning glance.

I bit my lip and returned to the chart. I put Bickslow at a low C class wizard, and put Evergreen and Brandish at a high D.

"Are they really that low?" Laxus asked.

"Again, experience is a big factor, here. They're all extremely powerful, especially for their age – but Brandish doesn't have enough control over her spells, Bickslow doesn't really _know_ any spells, and Evergreen has been focusing on her eyes. They've got strong powers and large magical containers, but they need experience."

Laxus nodded.

I pinned up Reedus at a high D. "He needs to expand his container and get more experience," I said at Laxus's glance.

I grabbed Macao and Wakaba's pins and glanced between them and the board. Finally, biting my lip, I put Wakaba as a middle B and Macao as a high B.

"They're about on par with last time, right?" Laxus asked.

"Yes and no," I said. "In more than a few ways, they're much stronger. But they had also grown lax in the other timeline, and stopped spending as much time training as they should have. At his peak, I'd say Macao was a mid-A Class wizard."

After all, he took down nineteen Vulcans by himself.

Sometimes I forget that.

I bit my lip and then put Enno down at a high C. It would've been better if I'd actually seen her fight at some point.

"And that's everyone," Laxus said.

"What's that?" came a new voice.

Turning, we watched the others enter.

"I made a graph we can use to measure our strength," I said. "Depending on what I know from the last timeline."

"Why aren't I on the previous timeline?" Enno asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know."

"Does that mean I should worry?" she asked.

I shook my head. "You'll be fine."

Cana and I had made a monitoring card for Enno as well, and I kept hold of it. I'd be able to keep watch, and monitor everyone's help.

"This is from the previous timeline?" Cana asked, staring at it.

"Yep," I said, smiling.

Cana started crying.

"ELLE! WHAT DID YOU DO!?"

I sighed. "Gildarts, take a look at the board and you'll know why."

Gildarts stopped screaming at me and turned to look at the board. It took him a minute to get it, but then he realized where Cana was placed previously.

And then he was swooping up Cana and was gushing.

"OH MY LITTLE GIRL IS SOOOOOOOO STROOOOOOOOONG!"

"Dad, put me down!" Cana yelled, but her crying had stopped. She looked up at the board. "Was Dad really a Wizard Saint, Elle?"

I shook my head. "The only one in that section that actually _was_ one was Master. But Gildarts, Laxus, and Brandish all had power on that level."

"Wow," Juvia said. "Was Juvia really that powerful?"

I nodded.

"What's the point of this, Elle?" Makarov asked.

"We're using it to measure our strength," I said. "This is where everyone is at the end of the last timeline."

Makarov nodded.

We spent the rest of the time relaxing and meditating a bit, before we all went home.

* * *

Levy's birthday was July 10th, and she wanted to go through the Magic Council's library, so Makarov got permission.

The whole group of us spent time in the library, going through books on our magic and just doing some research in general. Even though it wasn't really a conventional way to spend a birthday, Levy had a lot of fun, and we all learned a few things.

Makarov also finally got our damn trampoline installed while we were gone, after a long, _long_ description on it that I had given him the minute after we won the final battle.

I have no clue how they made it, nor do I care.

But it was magnificent, and spanned across the entire wall, with one side leading into a foam/fluff pit. The other lead to the other end of the room, where they would tear down the wall so it would end at the pool that would eventually be built outside.

Before Cana's birthday, however, we had a visitor on the 11th.

"I'm very sorry," the man said.

"No, it's fine!" Makarov waved off. "He looks like he was having fun."

"Well, I'm not surprised," the man said enthusiastically. "This place is SOOOOOOOOOO AWESOOOOOOOOOOOME!"

Apparently, Jason's 'sooooooooo cooooooooooool' is something he got from his father.

Jacob was the main reporter for Sorcerer Weekly, and he ended up bringing his seven year old son, Jason, to come play with the rest of the kids.

Yes, _that_ Jason.

"So, Elle, what were you saying?" Jacob asked.

"Well, we might only be kids, but we have a pretty strict regimen," I said. "We spend a few hours meditating, and we spend the rest of the time fighting one another or using our equipment."

I gestured around the training room.

Jacob nodded.

"It's a bit easier for us because we're so young," I said. "We don't need to worry about going on jobs, so we can spend our time expanding our containers and mastering our magic; though eventually we're going to start going on jobs so we can get some more experience."

"I see," Jacob said. "What are your opinions on the games?"

"It was really fun," I said. "And we look forward to next year. I'm hoping that other guilds will implement some of our training methods, and that next year it's more of a competition! Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing how much everyone has grown, especially since Laxus and I will not be participating."

"YOU'RE NOT?" Makarov yelled.

I shook my head. "No, I need Laxus for a _thing_."

"A thing?" Jacob asked.

I eyed Makarov. "A _thing_."

Makarov nodded, understanding it had to do with changing the timeline, and sighed. "How long will it take?" he asked.

"Absolutely no idea. No longer than a year, though."

He sighed. "A _year_ ….we'll discuss this _later,_ Elle."

I nodded. "Anywho, Laxus and I won't be competing next year, and we want to give some of the other kids opportunities to fight."

Jacob nodded.

The rest of the interview was spent with Jacob (and Jason) trying out the beams and the trampoline and such, so they could get a proper description on what we were doing.

Eventually, they left, with one last warning about putting in something telling other kids about the dangers of Magical Overload, and the precautions they could take, including getting some of the magical inhibitors like the one I had.

"I think that went well," Makarov said.

I shrugged. "Something like that."

"What's happening next year?" Makarov asked.

I sighed. "It's a bit complicated. I have a very small window of time to interfere, and I don't exactly know _when_ that is, so I'll have to be actively monitoring it there the whole time. In addition to that, I need Laxus's help to bring someone back to life."

"Back…to life," Makarov said.

I nodded. "I'll be able to explain it a bit better in time, but it's going to be tricky. If I do this right, I can get rid of a _lot_ of problems. The chain reaction from changing this _one thing alone_ would change our universe for the better, immensely; though I am going to go even farther than that."

"Back…to life," Makarov repeated. "I don't want my grandson cursed by Ankhseram!"

"He won't be!" I said. "This guy is already frozen at the point of death – not really dead yet, but almost. I need Laxus's help restart his heart."

Makarov pinned me with a look. "I don't like Laxus being gone so long. Or even you. When are you leaving?"

"I don't know," I said. "I have a few things monitoring the news, and when I get a certain type of signal, that's when I know that we have to go up."

Makarov nodded. "Alright. I'm still not comfortable with this…"

"I'll see if Cana and I can make some monitoring cards so you know how we are."

But we'd be fine.

I mean, it wasn't like we were dealing with demons, or anything...

Oh.

* * *

 **Everyone, thank you so much for your wonderful reviews! Since I was off of work today, and your reviews and comments made me so happy, I decided I would find a way to finish these and post it today. And I kinda ended up with two chapters. :3**

 **^is that supposed to be a cat? I've been treating it as a cat face. I love cats.**

 **If I replied to your review and there were typos, I apologize. I do everything except write my actual chapters on my phone, so there are more than a few autocorrect problems.**


	40. The Last Site

**Just warning everyone, I posted two chapters today, so make sure you read the previous! :)**

* * *

 **Chapter Forty - The Last Site**

Erigor ended up standing in our training room later that same day, looking completely shocked at his surroundings, though he tried to hide it.

"Hello, Erigor!" I said happily, glad he came early. "Now, listen, do you want to join the guild, or just help me train?"

His eyes widened. "You'd let me join? Just like that?"

"Of course!" I said.

He nodded eagerly, smirking a bit. "My dad kept saying that it would be difficult, but _finally_!"

I wonder how he changed so much. He was only three years older than Laxus, which meant he was twenty six when the Eisenwald incident went down, and other than being a bit bitter over his father, he seemed great.

"Now, there's a place that boys from the guild can stay, but you're over thirteen, which is the age they start asking registered guild members for the usual rent. Instead of staying there, you're perfectly welcome to stay at my house, if you want to."

"And…" he said slowly. "What if I want to stay here permanently? I turn sixteen at the end of the year, and I'll legally be an adult."

I shrugged. "I wouldn't necessarily mind a roommate, but you might want a bit more privacy. We'll see. Maybe you'll eventually get an apartment, maybe not. You can definitely stay with me until you get a steady income, though."

He nodded. "Alright. Thanks, Elle."

I hope that I never find out what changed him so much.

Though he's pretty resigned, he's still a cute and sweet kid.

Even though, mentally, he's only four years younger than me.

My head is going to start to hurt if I don't stop overthinking all of this.

Anyway, I led Erigor around the room, introducing him to the rest of the generation, along with Reedus, Macao, and Wakaba. Enno was the one who led him to the training room.

Erigor decided he wanted to be in our generation, and we decided that the cutoff date for the youngest generation was going to be in between Reedus and Erigor – who seemed to get along well enough, but mostly avoided each other. They really only got along when they were both being quiet next to each other.

He easily joined our training regimen, which he said was a lot stricter than his, but he was still fine with that. I pinned him at lower B class, and decided to put him on the previous timeline chart, too (after all, Brandish wasn't a member of Fairy Tail, originally), pinning him in high S Class.

He came home with me that evening and settled into the spare room, and I discovered he could cook pretty well, so we decided we'd take turns.

* * *

A day later, on July 12th (before Erigor and I could start training) it was Cana's birthday, and it was time to celebrate.

It passed without much fanfare. Cana mostly wanted to test out some of her prank cards, and we had what was seemed like a water balloon fight, except with paint and silly string and a few other really odd things.

At one point, Reedus ended up with a picture of Macao and Enno rolling around on the ground, practically covering one another in the things produced from our cards, as well as a picture of Erigor dive-bombing us with crazy cards from the sky.

After that, Erigor got along with us pretty well.

A day after Cana's birthday, the article came out, and I had to say that I was pleased with it. I turned to Makarov. "You'll monitor how everyone else is doing at your meetings, right? Ask if there's any improvement?"

He nodded. "I'm sure some of them will take your words to heart. That Lamia Scale mage seemed to respect the group of you."

"Jura? Yeah, he's always been awesome," I said.

"Ella-sama?" Freed asked. "When are we going to get Pisces? It is nearly two weeks into July."

Oh. So it was. It was July 13th.

"We'll go tomorrow, alright, Freed?" I asked.

Though it was putting off my training another day.

He nodded eagerly.

"Where is Pisces?" Makarov asked.

"On another island," I said. "It shouldn't take us too long, though. Galuna took long because Phoenix's key was buried really deep, and I wanted to save some energy and do it the next day."

* * *

The next day, Laxus, Freed and I set out to collect the last Celestial site. Before we left, however, Freed inscribed some runes directly onto our skin (which kinda stung a bit) preventing us from falling under any black magic. I don't know why Laxus and I had been spared from the spell last time, but we had to be careful. For that reason (and the fact that I'd be requipping a shit ton of stuff) I also took off my bracelet, which had my magic humming eagerly.

So I felt like we didn't need to take Gildarts at all.

"Wow, we're a lot closer to the shore this time," Laxus said as we appeared on the island.

"Yeah, I think it's hidden somewhere along the cove," I said, as I let the thumb tack spin around on my palm. It slowed to a stop and I started off in that direction. "This way."

The boys followed my lead as we walked along the beach.

"Ella-sama? Laxus-sama?" Freed asked.

"Yeah, Freed?" I asked.

"Are we allowed to be here?" he asked. "Because those men look angry."

Following his gaze, I turned and saw a group of men, men who looked _very, very,_ angry, and were carrying spears.

I teleported between them immediately and threw down some of Cana's cards from my requip space.

The men all collapsed onto the ground, unconscious.

There was a reason I kept asking Cana to make Sleep Cards – they were very, _very,_ handy.

I put a Constant Sleep Card on the ground – it let out Sleep Magic within a certain radius. I'd collect it on the way back.

Because of all the training we did, especially with the Sleep Cards, we have all slowly gotten immune to the strength level, though Cana was trying to find a way so it wouldn't affect Fairy Tail members, so she could up it's strength.

"If that didn't answer your question, Freed," I said, returning to the boys. "Then no, we're not allowed to be here."

Freed nodded solemnly.

We continued down the shore, until we reached a small cave hidden in the cove. "This is it, everyone," I said, and we walked inside.

Like the one on the mountain, this one seemed to mostly be full of gems, though there were a lot of weapons and instruments, and Laxus and Freed looked at them and organized them while I went straight to the keys.

I found Pisces almost immediately, but right next to it was Libra.

 _How did Yukino get her hands on it?_

I know that Virgo said that all of the sites were found, but it seems that people kept the Zodiac keys together, because Angel ended up with both Gemini and Scorpio, and Yukino ended up with Libra and Pisces.

Continuing on, I saw a worn down box with the words _Argo Navis_ carved into it.

Opening the box, I saw three keys: Puppis, the Stern; Carina, the Hull; and Vela, the Sails.

Looking at the set, I requipped out _Spirit's Compendium_.

There was a second set of asterisks.

 _The three constellations, Puppis, Carina and Vela, make up the Argo Navis. The keys can be linked together, creating a steel key, and the ship (as a whole) can be summoned. While Pyxis is generally accompanied as the Mariner's Compass, it does not link with the rest of the ship. Summoning the ship is about the strength of Leo's gate, and has only been done a handful of times, as the three keys continually get separated and cannot be wielded alone (unless replacing a broken part of a ship). The Argo Navis is especially handy because it can be sailed in the sea or the sky._

I sat back, blinking. "Hey guys! I found Lucy a flying ship!"

"The hell does that mean?" Laxus asked.

I laughed. "Apparently, these three silver keys can make a steel key, together, and summon the Argo Navis, which is a flying ship!"

"That sounds quite amazing!" Freed shouted from somewhere. "Lucy-san's magic is quite incredible."

"Hell yeah, it is," I said, requipping away the boxed set. There was a handful of silver keys left.

 _Crater, the Cup. Drinking from this cup heals miraculously._

 _Ursa Minor, the Little Bear. Good with snow magic._

 _Delphinus, the Dolphin. While also another pet-like spirit, is also good for underwater travel, helping its companions breath underwater._

 _Telescopium, the Telescope. Can see extremely far away._

 _Cygnus, the Swan. Good for offensive magic._

Wow. While Cygnus's description was a little vague, finding six Silver keys (if I count the Argo as one) is a lot!

But there was one left.

Even before picking it up, I already knew what it was.

 _Cetus, the Sea Monster. The third strongest Platinum spirit, it is rumored that Cetus is the form of a sea serpent and is approximately sixty feet long. It takes the strength of six Zodiac gates in order to summon him, and the strength of seven in order to fully use Cetus's powers._

There seemed to be a bit of a theme going on here, and it seemed to be the sea. Grabbing the key, I admired the terrifying picture on it, nodding to myself.

 _Sea_ monster _is right_.

"Laxus-sama!" Freed shouted.

Dropping the book and the key, I teleported to their side, _Venus's Sword_ already forming in my hand, before I even cast the spell.

The reactivity of my magic is starting to bother me.

It seems we missed one guy with a spear, and Laxus pushed Freed out of the way so he wouldn't get hit. Unfortunately, Laxus got grazed in the process, and was clutching the side of his arm.

I slashed the sword through the enemy instantly, activating his nerve endings.

But I wasn't tickling this time.

He had _hurt_ my nakama. He had tried to (possibly) kill Freed, and also hurt Laxus.

Even though he was already down on the ground, screaming, I wasn't done. I kicked him in the crotch, and then did it again.

"Elle, stop!" Laxus grabbed me, and I nearly hit him in surprise before I realized who it was. "We're fine, you got him in time! But don't…torture him."

It took me a bit to return to the real world. I had no idea what had just happened.

Slowly, _Venus's Sword_ vanished, and I collapsed to my knees. Freed wrote, " _Rune-Write; Sleep_ ," on the man who attacked us, and I semi-collapsed to the ground.

"Elle?!" Laxus shouted.

I barely heard him. It was like I was underwater, or like he was on the other side of the door.

I had tortured someone.

"Ella-sama!" Freed shouted.

It sounded even fainter.

I was too young to torture someone; it didn't matter if I was ten or twenty.

It was the feeling of Laxus grabbing my arms that brought me back. "ELLE!"

I snapped back to reality. "I…I'm sorry, guys. I don't know what just…happened…"

"It's alright," Laxus said. "But you don't need to keep beating on someone when they're down. Fairy Tail doesn't do that."

I know that, but… "He hurt you."

My eyes drifted to Laxus's upper right arm, where blood was slowly staining his shirt. In the position he was, holding onto my arms like this, he was probably aggravating the wound even more.

"Hey, Elle, I'm fine," Laxus said. "Just a scratch, see? Dragon slayer, remember?"

Sure enough, it was starting to close up – while I don't think I could actively see it healing, it was definitely a lot smaller than when I first got on the scene.

"Still," I whispered, requipping out some bandages. "You're hurt."

As I slowly wrapped Laxus's arm, I could've sworn I heard Freed whisper, "I ship it."

But Laxus has better hearing than I do, and if he didn't hear it, then neither did I.

* * *

 **Here's some Ellaxus for ya.**

 **Also, to the guest reviewers who don't really know _how_ to review, or what to say - you should put in general encouragement, pointing out something you really liked in a chapter (for instance, I got a comment mentioning that they loved when Elle declared she was gathering an army, back in chapter nine) and things you are looking forward to that were hinted. I got a lot of reviews wondering what I was doing with Erigor, and the remaining things I would do before Ice Wizards...which might be a little longer. :(**

 **That last part - what you're looking forward to - is generally the most important, because it helps us write about it, and inspires us. It means that we're not the only ones who want the story to move forward, and we work harder so we get there.**

 **I hope I cleared up reviewing! :)**


	41. The More The Merrier

**Chapter Forty One - The More the Merrier**

After Laxus was all cleaned up, I went back to my spot and requipped the key and my book, which I had dumped on the ground in my hurry. Slowly, I went around the rest of the site, collecting everything we found, before I was called over again.

"Ella-sama, Laxus-sama," Freed said. "I'm a bit curious about this…"

I followed is voice and met up with Laxus to find Freed bending over something. "It has such an odd magical presence…" Freed was saying.

Laxus put a hand on his shoulder. "Freed, back away. We don't know what it is."

Freed moved back, and I finally got a good look at what it was; a sword. But not just _any_ sword.

"Archenemy," I breathed.

What was it doing _here_? What did it even mean?

"Elle?" Laxus asked.

"It's safe," I said. "Just…something I thought we wouldn't be seeing in a long, long time."

I requipped it and hung it on the weapons wall in my storage space. I would make sure that it would find its way back to Kagura.

* * *

Eventually everything was in my requip space, leaving the cove empty.

"We're done here," I said. "I'll be right back for you guys."

I grabbed the unconscious guy, who would eventually wake up (since we switched him from Freed's runes to a Sleep Card) and dropped him with the other guys asleep on the shore. I grabbed the Sleep Card I had left there and teleported back to the cave, where I grabbed Laxus and Freed's arms and took them home.

By that time, Laxus's wound was already gone, and it was all just a bit of a bad dream.

"How did it go?" Makarov asked.

"Pretty well," I said. "We had to knock out some of the natives so we could take everything – I don't think they actually knew that the site was even there, they just didn't like us on their territory."

"Are any of you hurt?" Erigor asked. He had offered to join us, probably because he was already considered one of the stronger mages of our generation, both because of his age and his powers. He would probably be participating in the Games next year since Laxus and I would be absent.

"I got scratched," Laxus said. "But it's gone now, thanks to my Dragon Slaying healing."

Makarov looked a bit wary, but he nodded. "As long as you're all alright."

"We're good," he said.

I mentally winced. I still needed Laxus for next year, and if I couldn't keep him safe under my watch...

I shook it off and smiled. "Yeah, and there was a lot of stuff at this one!" I said. "I wouldn't consider this one the biggest site – that was probably the last one – but this was probably the second biggest, and it also had a lot of keys. More than normal. Usually I only get three or four silver, but I got a bunch this time. I also found the Argo!"

"What's that?" Cana asked.

"The Argo Navis is a flying celestial ship," Makarov answered, "comparable to Blue Pegasus's Christina, though I'm not sure if it's a magical bomber. It is made by linking three keys together, to form a large ship, and summon three spirits which man it. It hasn't happened much."

"Lucy-san's magic is very special," Juvia said quietly.

I smiled at her warmly, and picked her up, spinning her around. " _All_ of our magics are special. But yes, Lucy does have a large variety of options. While that helps her, it also hinders her. She has a larger option of people to summon, but she also has to make her decisions quicker, on who would be the right person to summon."

"Elle is right," Makarov said. "That's what's so tricky about Celestial Magic. Most magic is instinctive, but Celestial Magic requires thought, tactics. The larger variety of magics that are available, the more difficult it is. Elle, for instance, has a large variety of options, and it might become hard for her to juggle all of them; though she seems to be doing pretty well."

"Thank you," I said. "I usually depend on my Planetary Magic for battle, but sometimes I'll teleport out of the way almost automatically. If there's someone behind me, though, I'd rather make a shield."

Makarov nodded. "Even deciding between the different elements available to you can be a bit tricky."

I nodded. "Of the ones I used, I probably prefer Earth and Venus, honestly."

"You don't like Juvia's magic?" Juvia said quietly.

"That's not what I'm saying at all, Juvia!" I said, spinning her around again. "I love Neptune, and sometimes, especially depending on the environment, I prefer it. But on a general basis, I can use Venus and Earth just about anywhere, and it's a bit easier for me to use. I'm stronger in those magics. Neptune feels like I won't always be able to hold it – it's water, so it's harder to grasp. Pluto is a bit tricky, too – slick, and a bit oily, sometimes. And I feel like Mars is going to get away from me; like it's alive."

Makarov nodded. "Some people, even after learning the magic, can still have difficulty adjusting to certain elements. Earth is probably the easiest for you because it's solid, and dependable."

I nodded. "That makes sense. I understand."

Erigor smirked. "Ready to learn another element?"

"Nope," I said. "But we should get started, shouldn't we?"

He nodded and laughed, and we said goodbye to everyone else and teleported home.

* * *

"Now, I want you to relax, and begin to meditate," Erigor instructed.

We were sitting outside in the backyard, and a small breeze was drifting through my hair. I didn't know if it was Erigor who did it, or if it was natural, but it was something that could help.

Erigor must have felt my magical energy pick up, because he continued. "Do you feel the air around you? I'm meditating, same as you, and resonating with the wind. Do you feel it blowing through your hair?"

"Yes," I intoned, concentrating on the feeling.

"Wind is all around you," he continued. "You can feel it everywhere. Listen to its song on your skin."

The wind picked up around me, and my magical energy pulsed, wanting to be set free.

I didn't know whether or not to do this with or without the cuff, but it seemed to be working, even with the cuff on.

"Good," Erigor continued. "You mentioned having trouble with the other elements – but you're not going to grab the wind, you're going to ride it."

Ride it.

 _Ride_ it.

Suddenly, for a small moment, I seemed to perfectly resonate with the wind.

And then my magic exploded, and I blacked out.

* * *

I groaned as I woke up. "What happened?"

I was inside, lying on my bed. Erigor sat in a chair not too far from me, wiping blood off of his skin. I realized he was covered in it, and that it was actually his. He cleared some more blood off his arm before stopping and replying.

"I'm not quite sure," Erigor said. "I don't think I've ever seen anything like that. Your magic just sort of exploded, and I think you broke the cuff."

He gestured down to my wrist, where I saw the magic inhibitor cuff. Sure enough, it was split with a large crack through the lacrima attached, and I didn't think it could be fixed.

"I need to talk to Porlyusica," I murmured, before turning to Erigor. "But before that, how are you? Are you alright?"

He shrugged. "I couldn't really get my _Storm_ _Mail_ up in time, but I'm pretty okay. Just a few scratches."

"You're bleeding," I pointed out.

He shrugged. "I've had worse, especially during training, or practice missions with my father. This is fine, Elle. It'll heal."

I deflated. "I'll see if Porlyusica can give me something for you, too."

He nodded. "You should go see her. You don't know what the effects will be, if you go to long like this."

I sighed, and ended up yawning. "Alright. I think I'm going to sleep though, when I get back. I don't know why though; I just woke up."

Erigor shrugged and I teleported to outside of Porlyusica's house. "Hey, Porly," I yelled, knocking on the door.

"I told you to stop calling me that, you brat!" she yelled, opening the door and waving a broom angrily at me.

I held up my wrist. "We've got a bit of a problem."

She paused, and lowered the broom, inspecting the shattered bracelet. "I see." She sighed. "I honestly don't know what to tell you, girl. Wear two bracelets; see what happens."

"You don't think the drain will be too much?" I asked.

"Maybe at first," she said. "But eventually, your magic will settle, and it should be fine."

I nodded. "Thank you, Porlyusica. Do you have any sort of painkillers/regenerators? Erigor got sliced up a bunch when my magic unleashed."

Porlyusica sighed, and grabbed a bottle for me.

"Levy will probably be by in a few days in order to get her cast off," I continued. Virgo wasn't kidding when she said that the Celestial Potions would make it heal faster. "Oh, and one more thing?"

"Yes?" she asked.

"Talk to Laxus," I said, and then popped away before she could retort.

I giggled as I popped back into my room, requipping two more bracelets.

Generally, they came in pairs, and I originally had nine pairs – which mean I had seventeen individual bracelets left, and a broken one.

* * *

It was two more days into training – three days after the article was published in Sorcerer Weekly – that two cards went off.

I paused, and stopped meditating. "Erigor, I've got two cards going off. I need to go."

He nodded. "Hurry."

I hated how two cards were going off at the same time, but I requipped them out.

Laki and Max.

Grabbing Laki's first, I sent magic through it and jumped to her location, before pausing.

Sitting in front of me, inside a cute little room, was Laki _and_ Max.

I didn't know that they knew each other before Fairy Tail.

Both of them were sitting, obviously meditating for the first time.

Checking the cards, I realized that I had panicked, and that only their magical activation was going off, not their distress or danger signal.

"I'm so stupid," I muttered, facepalming.

"Who are you? Get out!"

My attention was drawn to Max, who had gotten up and grabbed a chair, trying to use it as a weapon. Both kids had stopped meditating.

"Wait, Max, it's as fine as a new steed!" Laki said.

Max stopped, confused. "It is?"

Laki nodded, grabbing Sorcerer Weekly and holding it up. "She's the girl I was telling you about! What are you doing here, though?" she asked, turning to me.

I paused, a bit stunned. "Why don't we sit down?"

The two kids sat, looking at me, though Max still looked a bit wary – well, as wary as a six-year-old could look.

"Let's introduce ourselves," I said. "My name is Eleanor Rigby. I turned ten in May. You guys can call me what you like, as long as it's not Eleanor. I usually go by Elle."

Laki nodded happily. "I'm Laki Olietta! I turned seven in February!"

"I'm Max Alors," Max said. "I turned six in March."

I nodded, before turning to Laki. "Did you see the GMG, Laki?"

She nodded. "Yeah, it was as cool as liquid nitrogen!"

I blinked. She was seven. Where did these things even come from?

Did liquid nitrogen even exist in this universe?

You know what, nevermind.

"Well, did you hear Juvia talk about how I _know_ some things?" I asked.

She nodded.

I smiled. "Basically, there are a few things that I know about the future. One of those things is people who will join our family – who will be a big part of Fairy Tail. So Cana and I made monitoring cards, so I would know when you guys started learning magic. I'm here to offer you a place in Fairy Tail, whenever you want it. You can join now, you can join later. You can stay with your families, too. It's up to you."

They looked at each other, before Max eventually nodded at Laki.

Laki turned to me. "We want to join, but we'll wait a bit. Maybe we'll come visit in a month or two if we need help, but for now we just want to start building up a good foundation."

I nodded, trying not to freak out about Laki's maturity. It was on a different type of level from Levy's and even Freed's, so I was a bit unsure.

Requipping two Call Cards, I left one with each of them and bid them adieu.

I had to get back to training.

After all...There was barely two weeks left in July.

* * *

 **I'm back from the dead!**

 **Yeah, I'm really sorry about the longer update. They changed my schedule at work, so now I'm working nights, and it fucked up my sleep schedule. I'm addition, I was a bit confused on how to end this chapter, so it was a bit slow in coming.**

 **However, I have the weekend off, so expect more updates! Yay!**


	42. Hisui

**Chapter Forty Two - Hisui**

When Ame's distress signal went off, I wasn't ready.

I knew I wasn't ready, but I went anyway, requipping away my cuffs in the process.

I had spent maybe two weeks total on Saturn – which was about the average amount of time it takes me to start up an element.

But even though it wasn't classified as the hardest spell, the nature of _Saturn's Healing Winds_ was different for the other spells, and so was a lot harder to produce. It focused on precision, and unity, while I was used to explosive magics.

All I could do so far is heal up some minor scrapes and cuts, and even then, it still exhausted me.

Toma was waiting for me, holding up the warning card I had given Ame; the one that would signal if I had to teleport directly into the castle. "I see you've come," he said.

I nodded. There was no point in going through the usual channels - I felt as if things hung in the balance. "How is she?"

He sighed. "They will not let me in."

"You're the King," I said, slightly bemused.

"And they're healers," he grumbled. "You should never go between a healer and their patient."

I laughed. "You're not wrong. How has she been, leading up to now?"

He chuckled. "She's been healthy, but being pregnant is driving her crazy."

I nodded as we stood outside the room, waiting as Ame gave birth to Hisui.

* * *

Six hours later, a baby's cry rang out, and then the emergency signal on my card for Ame went off.

Despite being told to keep away, I burst down the door, where a series of nurses and potioneers were hurrying around Ame's bedside.

"Move!" I yelled, pushing some of the nurses out of the way. " _Saturn's Healing Winds_!" My magic leapt to my command easily, rushing into her and slowly knitting everything back together. The immense amount of respect I have for Wendy and Chelia is even higher now – everything had to be healed, cell by cell.

Even as I started though, I knew it wasn't going to be enough.

Even though I wasn't wearing my cuffs.

 _Faster_ , I thought, pushing more magic into it. _You need to move_ faster!

My magic was whipping around the room, swirling my hair as it tried to rush into Ame's body.

The doctors seemed to realize what I was doing and was helping me along, pouring healing potions down Ame's throat.

I gritted my teeth, pushing harder, trying to fuse her failing organs. It was harder because it wasn't a visible wound - I didn't have something to visually concentrate on.

But at the rate I was going, it wouldn't work in time.

"Everyone stand back!" I shouted.

Everyone backed away from Ame hurriedly, and I summoned something from my requip space.

 _I was saving this for someone else, but I can always get another one_.

I dropped the giant lacrima on the ground and split it open, before picking up Ame and putting her in, sealing it as quickly as I could.

Monitoring her magic and life force from outside, pouring in my own magic to help, I waiting anxiously as the fluctuating stopped and her life stabilized.

Both me and the rest of the doctors breathed a sigh of relief.

"What now?" Toma asked, still standing in the doorway, unwilling to accidentally cause his wife more harm. "I understand that she's stabilized, but if you can't heal her now, what good will it do?"

"You remember the Grand Magic Games?" I asked him.

He nodded.

"Lucy is a Celestial Wizard," I said. "And she's getting more and more powerful every day. I estimate that it will be about two years at most before she can open Phoenix's gate and summon him properly."

I looked him directly in the eye. "I may not be able to heal her, but Phoenix can."

Even if Phoenix could come out on his own, something tells me that this would be too much for him - he would need another wizard backing his power.

Toma nodded and dismissed the doctors, who turned to leave. As they left, he turned back. "There's more, isn't there?"

I nodded. "In X777, there will be a Sky Dragon Slayer. Even if Lucy isn't able to summon Phoenix, Ame will be healed within the next few years. Hisui won't have her mother for that period of time, but at least she'll get her eventually."

Toma glanced over to the cot Hisui laid on. Sometime in the confusion, one of the nurses must have taken care of her, because she was swaddled and her umbilical cord was taken care of. She looked at us with surprisingly intelligent eyes.

"Do you think I can take care of her by myself?" Toma asked.

"I don't think you're going to have to," I said. "You are the King, Your Majesty. And if you need help, I don't mind coming from time to time, though I will probably be busy for most of next year."

He nodded. "Thank you, Ella. And please, call me Toma."

He smiled at me, and looked upon Hisui and Ame with a fond smile on his face, and I saw a glimpse of the King he'll become in the future.

"I think you'll do just fine," I said quietly. "Would you like me to stay?"

He shook his head. "I'm fine. You may go, but I would like to give you something first."

He led me out of the room, pausing to look at Hisui first. "I could leave her with a maid, but...Do you know how to hold her?"

"Nope," I said. "The youngest kid I've dealt with was four. I've been told it's supposed to be instinctual."

"Will you try?" he asked.

I shrugged and moved forward. "Hello, Hisui," I said, picking her up, and propping her on my arms.

"Ah, you're a natural," Toma said. He wasn't wrong; my arms seemed to form a perfect little cradle for Hisui. "Come."

We left the room, Hisui looking at us curiously, which kind of creeped me out. Weren't babies supposed to be blind the first few hours or days or something?

Ugh, I miss Google.

 _Would Google even help? After all, this is another universe._

Toma led me down several corridors before he lead me to what seemed like an extremely extravagant and unnecessary planning room. Reaching it, he walked over to the throne behind a table and sat down.

I remained quiet.

He tapped out some sort of pattern on the side of the chair and a piece of the table slid open, revealing a secret compartment. Reaching in, he pulled out a small box and placed it in front of me.

"Take it," he said.

I blinked. "The box?"

He hesitated. "No, that's a family heirloom."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. It's the Royal Family, of course it's an heirloom. Just about everything in the castle is probably one.

Slowly, he opened the box, revealing three keys.

"To tell you the truth, I never thought I would give all of these to someone," he said. "The Gold Key, yes. But the Platinums? I thought it would be better to keep it hidden, or wait for one of the family to be strong enough. We always have been Stellar inclined, when it came to our magic, though I doubted we would be powerful enough to wield them. However…you have done your country a great service…you have done _me_ a great service. And I feel as if I can trust you with this."

This entire damn universe is insane. The KING is giving me THESE KEYS?

I had a brief flashback of Ame looking up at the stars, telling me how she almost felt as if something else was influencing her.

I looked down at the three keys I had been searching for. Leo the Lion. Alphard the Hydra. And Draco the Dragon.

I took a deep breath. "Thank you," I said. "But I didn't do it for you, or for this country. I did it for Ame."

He nodded. "I know, and for that I am thankful."

Slowly, I handed him Hisui and collected the three keys, requipping them away. "Thank you, Your Majesty…Toma," I said. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Ella," he said.

I nodded and teleported out, leaving one of my Call Cards on top of the table as I went.

* * *

"Hey, Lucy," I said.

"Ellie-nee?" Lucy asked, shocked, before coming to her senses. "Ellie-nee!"

I was once again tackled by Lucy's flying hug.

"Hey, kiddo," I said, spinning her around once and plopping her back on her bed. "I'm not here for a long visit, and I know it's pretty late, so if I could talk to Corvus really quick I can get going, alright? You need sleep."

"Only if you read me a story," Lucy said.

"Sure," I smiled.

Lucy requipped Corvus's key into her hand. " _Open, Gate of the Crow! Corvus!_ "

Corvus appeared and immediately looked over at me. "I know what you're going to say, and we should speak privately for this."

Lucy frowned, but said nothing as Corvus led me outside and into a separate room.

"No," Corvus said.

"No?" I asked, requipping my magical cuffs and putting them back on.

I breathed a sigh of relief as my magic settled. I'd been so worried I hadn't really noticed, and I had used a lot of magical power trying to heal Ame.

He shook his head. "Ame was supposed to die in childbirth – you're not going to be able to change Fate with a _silver_ key."

I frowned. "Don't be disrespectful."

"I'm not," Corvus said. "Crater is really helpful, usually. Except it's not going to be strong enough."

"What if we were to put a Celestial Healing potion inside of the cup, and have her drink that?" I asked.

"It's a good idea, and something we should probably do anyway before he heals her, but the only way for her to truly survive would be by using Phoenix. And even then, he would probably lose energy and go back to the Spirit World if he was to try on his own power."

I nodded. I was hoping that by using the Celestial Healing Potions, or maybe Crater the Cup, Ame could heal faster, without the use of Phoenix, but obviously not.

We would have to wait for Lucy to be strong enough.

"Thank you anyway," I said.

Corvus nodded, and went back to the Spirit Realm.

I left the other room and joined Lucy, who made me promise to stay with her until she fell asleep.

After handing me a story to read and eventually falling asleep halfway through it, Lucy was dreaming above the clouds, and after marking her page, I teleported back to my house. I had one more thing left to do.

* * *

I took a deep breath and pulled out Loke's key. " _Open, Gate of the Lion, Leo!_ "

There was a flash of golden light, and I nearly fainted with the drain of my magic.

I probably should have taken off the wrist cuffs first.

Or maybe I just shouldn't have put them back on.

"Hello," said a smooth voice. "How may I help you tod-ack!"

Loke choked on the last word. "Elle? Elle Rigby?"

"Yep," I said.

"DOES THIS MEAN I FINALLY GET TO BE WITH MY PRINCESS?" He yelled in my face, his anime tears creating pools on the floor.

"No."

He deflated. "What….."

"Sorry," I said, shrugging, and not really sorry at all. "But I'm probably going to give your key to her last. Just saying. For now, though, I need your help. I want you to join the guild early, and teach ballet."

He shrugged. "Sure, that's fine with…"

He paused. "Ballet?" his voice was dangerously low.

"Yep. Corvus told me about it."

"That DAMNED BIRD!" he shouted angrily. "Doesn't he understand that I'm a cat and he's a bird? That means that I WIN! I'm the _leader_ of the Zodiac and he's the lowest of the low!"

"Actually, isn't he the Lowest of the High?" I asked.

Loke glared at me. "Don't. You. Dare."

I rolled my eyes. "Look, I'm just asking you to join the guild early and teach me and the other kids some ballet so we're better fighters."

He sighed. "Fine."

I rolled my eyes. "Don't you want to rub it in to Corvus's face that you've got a guild stamp and he doesn't? That he's not cool enough to be a member of Lucy's guild?"

Loke's face lit up, and I internally sighed. Geez, this was almost as bad as Natsu and Gray.

You know…almost.

Then again, I've never seen the two of them summoned together before, so…

"What's all that noise?" Erigor asked, peeking his head in.

"This is Loke, our newest guild member," I said, introducing him. "He's a Celestial Spirit."

"Oh, is Lucy here?" Erigor asked. "I'd like to finally meet her."

I shook my head. "No, I'm the one that summoned him, and I've got to say _please_ come out on your own next time."

"You probably should have taken your cuffs off first," Erigor pointed out. "I'm going to bed. Goodnight, Elle. Nice to meet you, Loke."

"He seems familiar," Loke muttered.

"He's Erigor," I said. "He was with Eisenwald in the last timeline. But he's with us now. Got it?"

Loke calmed down when I glared at him. Despite aligning him with Eisenwald, Loke realized that Erigor was also in the Neo Oracion Seis, and he still held a bit of a grudge.

* * *

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Loke," I said, gesturing to him. "He'll be teaching us ballet. And joining the guild."

Loke was standing next to Makarov, pulling off his shirt so he could get his stamp on his back.

"He seems a bit familiar..." Laxus said.

"That's probably because I'm a Celestial Spirit," Loke said. "I am also known as Leo the Lion, the leader of the Zodiac. Like _Corvus,"_ he growled out the name, "I can exit my gate on my own as well. However, I would like to be known as Loke. Because of...extenuating circumstances, I ended up joining the guild during the last timeline, and I would like to remain like that."

There was a bunch of nods around the room.

"Alright," Loke said, giving a bit of an evil grin. "Let's get started."

* * *

Loke was a slave driver. I've been told that ballet was hard, and could really hurt while first learning it, but that was an understatement. We spent the first day merely stretching and trying different positions, and we were still sore and hurt by the end of it.

The next day was even worse, and it took us some time for our muscles to adjust to being used in new ways.

While we were busy meditating in extremely uncomfortable ballet positions (so we could get used to them, Loke had said), Loke was busy flirting with Enno.

Macao then attacked Loke, and ended up beating him since Loke was on his own power and not contracted, and Enno seemed very, very happy with Macao's actions.

So much so, she dragged him off on a date.

* * *

In the latter half of August, Makarov declared that Evergreen had finished training her Eye Magic, and that she no longer needed her glasses in order to regulate it. Just like with every other reason, Fairy Tail used it as an excuse to throw a huge party, which ended up being even bigger when Evergreen let it slip that it was her ninth birthday.

After the large party, Evergreen challenged Erigor to a flying competition, which she admittedly lost, but Erigor promised that he would teach her a bit more about flying to make up for it.

On the last day of August, I also learned it was Enno's birthday, and we threw another party to celebrate her twentieth birthday.

When September hit, I finally approached Maggie and asked for her help. She agreed, and I spent most of the month trying to learn Mercury's magic.

Key word being _trying_.

While I could manipulate Mercury decently, it was very, very hard for me to make it myself, and Maggie suggested it was because it was essentially a Maker Magic, but it had to be solid.

We got into a bit of an argument on why solid Maker Magic would be harder than a different type, seeing as Venus's Light Magic technically could count as Maker Magic, but it didn't get any easier, even after the comparison.

I took a brief respite for Macao's twenty fifth birthday, on September 8th, but after that, I immediately went back to training, trying to get the hang of Mercury.

But it was still pretty bad. So much so that I would spend just about all of my specific practices on it, completely forgetting the other elements.

By the time Freed's birthday hit, I had been ordered (several times) to take a break from Mercury and practice with my other elements again.

Freed's ninth birthday was September 30th, and he decided to take a page out of Levy's book and ask for us to visit the council library again.

And then it was October, and it was time for a show.

* * *

 **If you haven't already guessed, Elle is a bit of an unreliable narrator. FYI, babies can usually see their mother's face when being breastfed, buy generally have difficulty with farther distances during their first few months.**

 **I've put a shit ton of subtle and not-so-subtle hints throughout this chapter, and I look forward to seeing everyone's hunches in their reviews. ;D**


	43. Fantasia

**Chapter Forty Three - Fantasia**

Fantasia was the evening of October 15th. Which means that when Makarov announced that we'd be getting our own float on October 1st, we only had about two weeks in order to prepare.

We sat down to brainstorm ideas for our float, but I barely got a word in as everyone (except me) agreed on the first idea.

"We want to celebrate you," Levy said. "You brought us all together, and had us win the games!"

She was the one who came up with it, and with Juvia and Freed immediately agreeing, I couldn't help wondering if they were conspiring against me.

Seeing as they already had it all planned out perfectly and explained away reasons for everything, they probably were.

Someday, they might take over the world, and if they do, they'll probably put me in charge.

Our float was built like my Planetary Magic - like the Solar System. Since Lucy and Brandish weren't participating, and there were nine of us and nine elements, each of us were assigned to a specific planet.

Loke was a bit upset to be left out.

The only ones who _really_ lined up with specific elements were Juvia, Laxus, Erigor, and Evergreen, who we put on Neptune, Jupiter, Saturn and Venus respectively.

Cana, Bickslow, Freed and Levy were a bit more difficult.

After some debate, Levy decided she would go on Mercury for her _Solid Script; Iron_ , and Freed revealed his practices with _Dark Ecriture_ (which I grounded him for) and decided to go on Pluto, because Darkness Magic was alike to Shadow Magic.

That left, of course, Mars and Uranus. Bickslow, who had finally learned a few formation spells with Papa (though it was harder with only one soul), decided he'd go on Mars, and even though Cana didn't have a lot of ice spells, she still had a few, so she took Uranus.

And I took Earth, because it was my first element.

But it was really something. All of the nine planets would rotate around on the float, and we were all supposed to use elements corresponding with our planet (which of course was pretty easy for _some_ of us).

Each planet would be painted like the magical circles that would form when I performed magic. Mercury was a dark gray color, with sharp designs around the edges and an image of the planet in the center. Venus was a light, white/gold color, with the edges shining outside from the planet in the center. Earth was a forest green color, and had designs that reminded me of trees and plants. Mars was an angry red color, which looked like flames were bursting from the sides. Like the others, it had the planet in the center. Saturn was a light gray color, with swirls around the edges and a series of rings sounding the planet, running around Saturn's own ring. Neptune is a dark blue color, with waves running along the edges. Pluto is a deep black color, with the edges ghosting around the planet like a type of mist.

Jupiter and Uranus were a bit harder, considering I've never actually cast them, but from what I can tell from my Planetary books, we were able to make them easily enough. Though Laxus originally thought that Jupiter would be yellow, a look at our books revealed that it was actually a deep purple color. He was a bit confused when comparing it to his own magic, before I pointed out that his electricity seemed to be from electric machines, while mine seemed more suited for storms. Uranus seemed to be an icy blue color, with a snowflake like pattern on the sides.

We were all put in get-ups corresponding to our element, too; I wore a flower crown and a green dress, and sandals. Evergreen was in a pretty gold dress and had a type of halo. Cana was wearing something reminiscent of Elsa's dress, and Juvia wore a layered blue dress that looked like waves. Levy had on a bunch of spikes (which looked extremely out of place), and wore a leather collar.

The boys were all in their usual get-ups, with only a change in color to match their planet.

We were all really happy when we got news about Lucy and Brandish coming down to watch with their families. Especially Erigor, who had yet to meet the two, and Loke, because...he's Loke. They couldn't participate this year, but they agreed that they'd try and give it a shot next year.

Of course, while in the middle of building the float, we had some…mishaps.

Apparently, ColorS is only really meant for clothes. That would have been good to know, before we tried using it on metal for the planets.

Let's just say we had to make another planet.

And then…well…we had to paint it by hand.

This is where the problem came in.

"Hey, Laxus, watch it," I said. "You got some paint on me."

"I did?" he asked, before he smirked and flicked his paint brush at me.

A few more spots ended up on my face and front.

"You know, it's supposed to go on the _float_ , right?" I asked.

"Is it?" he asked, dipping the paint brush in his bucket and flicking it at me again.

"That's it!" I yelled, grabbing my paint can and dumping it over his head.

It turned into a full out paint war between me and Laxus, and Erigor held the kids back and tried to explain to them that they shouldn't copy us.

Eventually, we ended up out of paint, with both Laxus and I covered in it.

Makarov (upon seeing the mess) made us go take showers, while he got more paint so we could finish the float.

Except, when we got back, and Laxus looked all nice and clean, I couldn't help but dump one of the new buckets of paint on top of his head.

This time the entire guild got involved.

Even Loke appeared for a bit and joined in on the fun, though when he got a bit too close to Enno, Macao started fighting with him again until he went back to the Spirit World.

Eventually, we stopped with the paint wars and finished our float.

The Parade went well, and we all had a really fun time. The fireworks were spectacular, and it really felt great. I remember spending some time talking with Layla and Jude about Christmas (and of course being tackled by the flying missile that was Lucy), but most of it passed in a happy, blurry daze.

Well, with one exception.

* * *

Honestly, I should have seen it coming.

Loke, as I mentioned before, wanted to meet Lucy.

When the parade was done, and we all met up back in the guild Hall, Loke came out on his own. As he was hugging her and excitedly claiming how he had the cutest master ever, he was punched in the face.

By Corvus.

Who could also come out on his own.

The resulting brawl and shouting match was the likes of which I've never seen, and I had severely underestimated how far their competitive animosity goes.

Natsu and Gray were nowhere even _close_ to these two. At least those two idiots can work together.

Eventually, Loke ran out of energy and power, and went back to the Spirit World, and Lucy grounded Corvus from coming out on his own for a week _and_ getting a guild mark like Loke's, which resulted in him bursting into tears and crying a river.

* * *

About a week after Fantasia, on October 23rd, we celebrated Bickslow's tenth birthday. He didn't really want to do anything in particular, but he finally admitted that he wanted a competition between Cana on all of the gymnastics equipment, and the rest of us were fine with standing back and watching them compete.

As we watched them go back and forth on things, I realized that Bickslow must have trained a bit in private, because he was doing a bit better than usual – enough so that he won, and we were finally able to rank the two of them, though I'm sure that Cana will find some way to try and get on top again.

We all had fun and laughed together, and then we ate cake.

* * *

On the twenty sixth of October, I strode into the guild, ready for my plan. I reached the mission board, looked through the available missions, and then grabbed one and headed to the training room.

I kicked the door open. "We're going on a mission, today!"

"Elle!" Makarov said. "I said no more missions unless there's an adult!"

"I know," I said. "Did I say I _wasn't_ taking an adult? You shouldn't jump to conclusions!"

There was silence as everyone listened. "Alright, guys, listen up. I have a mission for us, taking down a dark guild. If you want to sit out, that's fine."

Bickslow and Evergreen exchanged glances. "I don't think we're ready, Big Sis," Bickslow said.

"That's fine," I told them. "When we're gone, I want you to practice your offensive magics, alright?

They nodded.

"Is everyone else cool with going?" I asked.

Erigor nodded. "I'm in."

Laxus nodded, too. "Definitely. I can't wait."

Cana smiled. "So, who's going?"

She raised her own hand, as well as Erigor and Laxus.

Juvia raised her hand (what a shock) and Levy raised her hand, even jumping a bit so everyone could see her. Now that her cast was gone, she moved as much as possible.

Freed nodded, swiping out his sword as if preparing for battle. "I as well, would like to join this quest."

I smiled. "Alright. Gildarts, you cool with watching over?"

He sighed and shrugged. "Yeah, sure, why not?"

"No joining in," I told him.

He sighed. "Fine, but I'm going to take an S Class quest soon. Sorry, but fighting children just isn't enough for me. You guys are strong, but you only won that time because of technicalities."

I'm not going to deny it. If we hadn't cheated we would have been crushed, as demonstrated by my second battle with him, where I barely got a hit in before I was unconscious.

Well, it was technically two hits.

"What guild?" Makarov asked.

"Naked Mummy," I said.

Laxus snorted. "That's a _great_ guild name. Paints such a pretty picture."

I smirked. "Let's kick their ass!"

I wasn't planning on using any of Mercury – I was still too unsure about my control over that one, and wanted to spend more time before utilizing it in battle. It's not like I didn't have any of other options. I was yelled at to make sure that they weren't neglected, so I'd be using my other elements in this.

Plus, we all just needed more experience anyway.

We gathered in a circle, I pulled off the cuffs, and I teleported us to Ivy Village, where they were located.

* * *

After speaking with the mayor, (who was an extreme prick), we ventured into the forest and spotted their hidden guild (that wasn't really hidden at all).

"Alright, I have an idea for a plan," I said. "But I want to hear if any of you have ideas. There are no stupid ideas, only stupid people, and none of you are stupid."

"You might be," Laxus muttered under his breath.

"Least I'm not a damn tsundere," I muttered back.

He growled (legit, growled) but didn't do anything to reveal our location, which was probably a good thing, considering that this was a dark guild famous for killing people. I doubt our younger ages are going to stop them.

Erigor spoke up first. "If we all sneak in through different vantage points, we can stop them from escaping."

I nodded. "Good." I already had something like that, but I wanted them to contribute. I wouldn't always be with them. "What else?"

"Couldn't we just use Cana's cards and put them all to sleep?" Laxus asked.

I saw the expression on Levy's face, and gestured to her. "Levy, you want to explain?"

"I had already thought of that idea," Levy said. "But then I realized; we're doing this because Elle-chan wants us to have experience. If we just put them all to sleep, we won't get any fighting experience, and she wants us to learn how to use our powers in battle! Our strength doesn't matter if we can't use it."

I nodded. "Levy is right. Which is why you aren't allowed to use any Sleep Cards _or_ Recycle Cards. Got it?"

They all nodded. "Got it."

I outlined my plan, and asked if anyone had any questions or changes. After universal agreement, I nodded and we got into positions.

I turned to Laxus, who was right next to me. "Ready?"

He nodded, smirking.

And just like over a year ago, I slammed open the doors and hit the ground.

" _Lightning Dragon Roar_!"

The damage was immense, and it truly showed how much Laxus grew in a single year.

That was the signal, and Levy and Freed attacked through the left and Cana and Juvia entered through the right. Erigor appeared in the back just as the standing mages ran for the last exit.

Gildarts was waiting outside.

With an explosion of our powers, we easily wiped out all the members standing there, though, funnily enough, one of the members shouted something along the lines of, 'it's the demon children from the games!', which made them panic even more.

Which made them sloppy.

"What now?" Cana asked, looking around at all of the downed mages.

I shook my head. "It's not over yet. _Arms of the Earth_ ," Vines shot from the ground and pinned them in place. "Cana, now that we're not fighting, we can use Sleep Cards to keep them here, unconscious, but how else would you guys do this, if Cana or I weren't here?"

"Knock them out," Laxus said.

"Chloroform," Levy said.

Erigor raised an eyebrow at her. "You carry around chloroform?"

Levy shrugged. " _Solid Script; Chloroform."_ A giant CHLOROFORM appeared, with a misty thing coming out of it.

"Don't do it here!" Cana shrieked.

"Sorry!" Levy said.

I sighed and requipped it away.

Great.

Now I have a giant CHLOROFORM.

Well, I could always just dump in on an enemy in a fight. That'd be pretty funny.

"Moving on," I said. "Juvia, what would you do to stop them?"

"I would use _Water Lock_ ," Juvia said.

"Erigor?" I asked.

"I guess I would knock them out," Erigor murmured.

"Erigor, do you have anything that could trap people within a certain space? You might be able to keep it so they won't be able to breathe, and they'll pass out, or you could end up moving a circle of wind keeping them trapped? And they'd have to move or the wall could hurt them? You could lead them back to town that way."

He nodded, thinking. "That's an idea. I'll try and develop a spell."

"Did we get everyone?" Levy asked, looking around at the tied down mages.

I turned to Cana, who held out a card that scanned all the guild members in the room. Eventually, two numbers and signs popped up. Next to the Fairy Tail mark was the number seven, and next to Naked Mummy's guild mark was the number 48.

"No," Cana said. "The mayor said 51 members, remember? So we're missing-"

I saw them just before they fired, and teleported next to Cana, shoving her to the ground.

" _Purple Explosion_ ," came a soft spoken voice.

Oh, shit.

A heavy impact hit me in the shoulder, burning, and I was flown across the room, taking the hit meant for Cana.

My name was shouted, but I could barely hear them over my own dizzy feeling.

My back hit the wall in the most uncomfortable way possible – with a corner between my shoulder blades. My head cracked against the wall, and I saw stars. After that, the impact faded, and I collapsed to the ground.

As I caught my breath back, and blinked away the black, I looked at my wound which was covered in…paint?

Wild laughter rang through the room, as footsteps echoed, and a voice cackled, "Do you like my Paint Magic? Each color corresponds with a different thing. Purple…is _Poison_."

Even before he said it, I was already started to feel hot, and the poison was burning through my shoulder where the attack hit. The start of my shoulder was already burning, and I really wished I had been more specific about what sort of protection I can get from fire when Phoenix made me 'immune'.

I really don't think poison counts as fire.

"Onee-sama!" Juvia called, hitting me with a wave of water. While it didn't immediately get rid of it all, it did help cool it off and wash some of the poison away.

"Damn you!" Laxus shouted. " _Lightning Dragon's Breakdown Fist!_ " The large fist he made collapsed onto the Paint Mage, shooting him across the room, as two other mages popped up.

Cana and Juvia took on one with _Water Lock_ and _Summon Lightning_. Erigor took on the last one, quickly slicing him again and again until he collapsed and Cana put him to sleep. Freed and Levy went back to the first one that Laxus had hit, and Freed froze him in place while Levy wrote out her most vicious attack. " _Solid Script Magic – Pile of Hungry Fire Ants!_ "

I winced as the attack collapsed upon the mage, setting a hoard of angry fire ants crawling through him and biting him like crazy.

"Are you okay, Elle?" Laxus asked, helping me up.

"I'll be okay," I said, hesitantly stretching my arms and rolling my shoulders. "It's not as bad as Galuna was, but I'll probably be sore for a little bit."

And I should probably check with Porlyusica, just in case.

"You're bleeding," Laxus said, gesturing to my head.

Reaching up, I felt my head, and it came away, a bit sticky with blood.

"Head wounds always bleed more," I said, requipping some bandages to hold against it. "I'll be fine."

"Couldn't you have a concussion?" Levy asked.

I shrugged. "I'll talk to Porlyusica later."

I'm just glad that I'm not blind. I know that the eyes are controlled by the Occipital Lobe, which is on the back of the head, and that people could go blind by hitting their heads like I did.

As we walked towards the unconscious mages, I stopped and picked up a gun lying on the ground. Noticing it, I realized that it was a paintball gun, and that this is what the first mage used.

Interested, I requipped it, putting it away. Even if I couldn't use it, then Alzack or Bisca could.

As I used my Earth magic to tie down the remaining mages, and we used Cana's cards to insure they remained unconscious, I couldn't help wondering about the magic I was hit with.

Gildarts was waiting right next to the open front doors, having watched most of what took place. "Good job, guys," he said. "You ready to collect?"

We nodded eagerly, and I discretely thanked him for not interfering, especially since it was Cana that the mages went for.

Though it doesn't surprise me. Watching the group of us fight, even though Erigor and Laxus would probably be considered the most powerful, I would probably peg Cana or me as the most resourceful (and I was really only using a handful of elements).

We left the unconscious and tied up mages there, as I teleported us into town and back to the Mayor's office, with a quick detour to the Rune Knights so they could pick up the unconscious mages.

After waiting for the Rune Knights to collect and properly identify all the mages (during which, my head wound stopped bleeding), the Mayor finally gave in and handed over the 700,000 J award.

100,000 J for each of us.

Or, in the US money I was used to; $2,000.

Everyone took our money and held onto it, and I knew most of us would save it.

They don't have banks in Fiore, so they can't store it in a savings account or anything, but they can still put it aside, just in case...

We eventually left and I teleported the eight of us (seven and Gildarts) back to the guild, straight to the training room.

* * *

 **Hey everyone! :). That thing about the back of your head causing you to go blind is true; that's where your brain controls your eyes. Yesterday was the two month anniversary of this fic!**

 **I was kinda wondering where my commenters are? I still get most of my regulars, but some of you kinda disappeared? Are you still reading?**

 **Also some...encouragement would be nice, because sometimes I think this story is kinda stupid.**


	44. Nab

**Chapter Forty Four - Nab**

"How did it go?" Evergreen asked as we appeared.

"Pretty well," I said, shrugging. "I got a bit hurt, but I'm good."

Or I will be, anyway, once Porlyusica clears me.

Though my shoulder still stings a bit.

I noticed Enno (who is more often in the main hall than not) sitting in the corner next to Macao, sniffling and wiping away tears.

"Enno?" I asked. "What's wrong?"

Apparently, it was pretty bad, because Enno burst into tears and turned to hug Macao. While Macao still looked a bit confused on what to do, he almost automatically gave her a hug.

She sobbed harder, and most of the other kids looked concerned, while Evergreen and Bickslow (who appeared to know what was happening) only looked sad.

"What happened?" I asked, turning to the others.

Makarov answered. "Enno's aunt passed. When Enno turned sixteen, she left her home and joined the guild, where she's lived for three years."

Enno cried harder.

"She got the letter this morning," Makarov continued. "She's going to need to pick up her little cousin. Enno's parents had died when they were much younger, and she moved in with her aunt and her cousin. Her uncle let. Now her cousin is the only family she has left."

"Do you want me to take you?" I asked her.

She cried harder, but let go of Macao and hugged me. "Yeah, thanks Ellie-girl."

"Let's go," I said, taking her hand. "Where to?"

She named the town and grabbed my hand, as I whisked us off. We appeared in a small looking village, and I pulled off my wrist cuffs for all of the requipping I was going to have to do. My power was a bit wild, and was especially excited to be fully used again, after all the fighting I did earlier. It was glad that I was going to be packing up a house. I tried to mentally shush it for being so disrespectful. Then I realized what I was doing, mentally screamed, and continued forward.

Enno lead me to her house and knocked on the door, which opened almost immediately.

"Enno!" cried a small voice, and a boy rushed out and tackled her, crying.

As she cried and embraced her younger brother, I was surprised to recognize him.

 _Nab_? I thought.

Looking back and forth between them, there were many things they had in common – the hair, the eyes, their skin. Though Nab's skin was darker and Enno's hair was light enough to tell it was purple. The biggest thing they had in common was the way they dress. Before the seven year time gap, Nab was pretty well built, too.

Eventually, Enno and Nab released from their hug, and Enno turned to introduce me, wiping away her tears. "Nab, this is Ellie. She's a member of my guild, too. Remember the letters?"

He nodded, turning to me. "Nice to meet you, Ellie. Is it okay to call you that?"

"It's fine," I said. "It's nice to meet you, too, Nab. I'm here because of my teleportation and requip skills. I'll help you move to Magnolia."

Enno nodded. "Alright, let's start gathering what we can take and what we have to leave behind."

"Enno, you know I can take it all, right?" I asked. "Even the furniture."

She had a look of shock on her face, and I realized that beside Gildarts (and maybe Makarov), none of the other adults really knew how much I could carry.

"I suggest you group things together, or try to organize them, though," I suggested.

While Nab got his room into order, I went around and started requipping what they wanted to keep. Enno had me leave the furniture, so they could sell the place fully furnished.

I requipped Nab's things, and I gave Enno one of my Call Cards, which she left with the neighbor, who would monitor the house and contact me when someone was interested.

Which reminded me, did someone rent Levy's house yet?

With our quest finished, Enno and Nab took one last look at their house before I popped them back to Magnolia.

After depositing Nab's things in Enno's apartment, I put my wrist cuffs back on and we walked back to the guild, so Nab could see Magnolia.

Nab was currently nine years old, and he hasn't started learning magic.

"Alright, Nab, and this is Fairy Tail," Enno said, somewhat quietly.

"Come on!" I said happily. "You can get your guild mark, and start training with us!"

"But he doesn't know magic," Enno said, confused.

"He will!" I said, dragging them inside and into the training room.

"Wow…" Nab said a bit quietly.

"Where do you want your insignia?" I asked, grabbing the stamp. "And think of the color you want."

"Um….I don't know," Nab said, before he started mumbling. "Maybe my arm? Or my chest? My hand…"

"Take your time," I said, handing the stamp over to Enno and getting on the trampoline. Now that it was properly installed, we all loved it, and Macao, Wakaba (and even the rest of Team B), had completely forgiven us for selling them out for it.

In one corner, it led to a pit I had made, which we filled with some of Cana's giant fluff and foam. The trampoline spanned the entire wall, and led to the other end. Outside, Makarov was having a pool built, and when it was done, we would also be able to jump into the pool from the trampoline. Now though, there was a steel door that was closing that section off because of how cold it was outside.

In this life, I finally had time to try doing all the things I couldn't do before – like gymnastics, or ballet or hand to hand combat. After many many tries, I finally learned how to do a front flip off the trampoline, which I then proceeded to do.

"That looks like fun," Nab said wistfully.

Enno had a tick mark on her forehead. She had obviously forgotten how indecisive her cousin was when she was away. "The faster you pick a place for your guild mark, the faster you can get on."

I laughed as I hauled myself out of fluffy pit.

I really loved this guild.

* * *

After meeting with Porlyusica (in which she put a potion on my shoulder, declared me perfectly fine and I told her to talk with Laxus until she kicked me out and hit me with her broom), I returned back to the guild hall. It had been a long day, and I hadn't realized it was already late at night.

Walking into the training room, I was a bit surprised to see Makarov alone, looking at the chart I made.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

He turned and looked at me. "Oh, Elle?" He _hmmed_ and went back to the chart. "I'm surprised you haven't figured it out. After all, it's almost December."

December...that was right.

"The S Class trials," I said.

He nodded. "Yes. We haven't even had any nominations for the past few years, and I've been considering the ones who competed in this years games. However," he gestured to the chart. "I'm not quite sure you agree with me."

I hesitated. "I don't think any of us are ready yet. Even if we are magically strong enough, we don't have nearly enough experience. And as for the adult team...the strongest was probably Macao, and I would still say that you should probably still give him another year to grow."

"Yes, I was thinking along those lines," he said, sighing. "I'm more worried about the other guilds, and how their reactions will be to only having one S Class member. Especially after winning the games."

I shrugged. "None of us have reached the proper level yet, but in a few years, you'll probably have more S Class wizards than regular guild mages."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

I nodded. Thinking it over, I had realized that Cana was nominated for her first S Class when she was twelve - in X778, only five years from now.

"I can understand why you might want to nominate some of us kids," I said. "But I think you should wait a bit longer. And I also think that you probably shouldn't nominate anyone underneath twelve, no matter _how_ strong they are." I eyed Lucy's pin.

Makarov nodded. "Yes, that seems right. I was barely considering it, anyway, but I wanted to hear your opinions."

"Thank you," I said, glad to be included.

Though after I left, I couldn't help wondering if it was some sort of test in humility, and arrogance.

 _Jeez, Elle, now you're getting paranoid._

* * *

After the first job we did, we added it as a new component to our schedule. Every weekend, we would go on a job. No matter what combinations we made, there were at least four kids together (with some sort of adult acting as a babysitter, if needed). Bickslow and Evergreen joined us eventually, and they actually did a pretty decent job in battle, though they of course did a lot better when they were in a group with us. They were more confident about having backup, and we were able to take care of any blind spots.

When I mentioned that Laxus and I were going to be leaving, I made a rule about going on solo missions. No one under the age of sixteen can go on a solo mission.

At which point Erigor glared at me and pointed out he would soon be sixteen and that he should be able to go.

I ignored him, told him to take care of the house, and that I would fucking kick him out if he fucked it up.

I found out that Levy has been renting the house and store out for awhile, even over a year now, but had neglected to tell us because we were busy training to defeat Gildarts at the time. I looked over the contract she made and high-fived her; she had gotten more money for the house and the store than I thought she would. With the exception of Lucy and Cana (though _that_ money was really earned through their father's jobs), she was the richest one of us.

I'm not counting my magical appearing bag of jewels.

Nab fit in pretty well, though people have already started trying to find ways to get rid of his indecisiveness. I introduced then to the Jeapordy! theme, and from what I know of Psychology, I may have started training him with positive reinforcement, which means that the faster he made a decision, the more treats he would get. If he didn't make any decisions, he didn't get any candy and lost his trampoline privileges.

Though he activated his magic pretty quickly, and Enno was ecstatic as it was a Family Magic they thought was lost, he still had a lot of trouble controlling it, so he spent more time meditating than anyone else.

I found out his birthday was back in June, and I mentally added the date to my mental calendar.

October ended, and November passed quickly, only stopping to celebrate Wakaba's twenty fifth birthday, and Laxus's. Laxus's thirteen birthday was a bit odd, because it officially marked him as a teenager, which he seemed extremely happy about.

While Porlyusica attended the party, she still didn't tell him she was his grandmother, and I told myself that if she didn't tell him at this point next year, I'd do it for her.

I also sent her a very indiscreet note telling her that.

There may have been some extreme capitalization involved.

* * *

November was followed by December, where we celebrated Erigor's sixteenth birthday (and while he was happy to be an adult, he decided to continue living with me), as well as Christmas.

Originally, Jude and Layla (at some point after the Fantasia parade but before Loke and Corvus's fight) had invited me over to spend Christmas Eve with them. Instead, I turned it around and invited the two of them, along with Lucy and Brandish, and told them to join _us_ for Christmas.

The biggest reason Jude was afraid of joining us (which I found very sweet), was that he was unsure of what gifts to give everyone else.

"How about this?" I had said. "I'm going to be gone most of next year, and the kids have started to go on missions. Since I can teleport, I've been bringing them directly to certain towns. I'm not going to be here, though, so they'll have to ride the train. How about passes or something?"

Jude thought it was a great idea, and both he and Layla agreed to come with the kids.

On Christmas Eve, we had a huge party, (wherein most of the guild decided to get drunk), and all of us kids gathered and passed around presents.

Though, before Christmas, both I and Lucy had forbidden Corvus and Loke from coming out on their own and ruining the holiday.

I gave Lucy her Silver keys in a pretty little box, and she got the keys to the Argo Navis, and Telescopium, so she could use the telescope on the ship.

"So you can play pirate," I said, as she opened it. "At some point next year, you can invite some of the kids from the guild over, and you guys can play pirates or something and go flying through the sky."

She beamed. "That's so _cool_!"

"Could we play Peter Pan?" Evergreen asked. "I could be Tinkerbell?"

I shrugged. Ever since I had shown them the cartoon movie, they'd been obsessed with it. I guess it's a good thing that they'll never be able to find out the original version of the tale.

"I wanna be a mermaid!" Juvia said.

"I'll be Wendy," Lucy called. "and Brandish, you can be Pantherlily!"

Brandish nodded, still with a slightly reserved face. "Though... I'd rather play Peter if that's alright."

I blinked, and shrugged. "Why the hell not?"

After all, when _Peter Pan_ is performed in theaters, Peter was generally played by a girl.

"Freed should be Captain Hook," I mentioned.

Freed gasped. "Why would I be that hooligan?"

"Because you've already got the clothes for it," I said.

The kids continued to chat about the games they would soon play, and I turned to Layla. "How much?"

She smiled. "It seems that giving Lucy Corvus's key helped. Having a Platinum key she can summon all the time has been great for her reserves. She also tends to summon Pegasus every once in a while so she can go flying. She can hold all five of her Zodiac gates open."

I turned to Lucy, who had stopped talking about Peter Pan and was paying attention to our side conversation, and smiled. "You know what that means, right?"

She nodded eagerly.

First, I requipped a golden key. "Here is your next Zodiac key. This is Gemini, who has the ability to turn into other people. However, I chose this key next because you can have Gemini turn into you, and you can double the power for _Urano_ _Metria_. You know that it's usually a two-person spell, right?"

She nodded eagerly. "Wow, thank you Ellie-nee!"

I smiled. "They're also really cute, and I think you'll enjoy them. They remind me a bit of Papa – except cuter."

"Hey!" Papa yelled, buzzing around my head.

We all laughed, and Lucy took the key from me.

I smiled and requipped out a Platinum Key. "And here is Monoceros," I said, giving her the key. "You're going to be his first summoner."

Her eyes lit up, and I finally got the tackle/hug I was expecting. "Yayayayayayayayayayayayay! Thank you thank you thank youthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!"

"Calm down, Lucy, it's fine," I said, laughing a bit. "Do you want to talk to any of the other Platinum gates?"

She nodded, and I requipped the rest.

"You have all of them?" Layla gasped, as Lucy scooped up the other keys and started whispering to them.

I nodded. "I've got all the keys I need except for Aries, and some Silver keys. I've got the rest of the Zodiac, though, and as you can see, all the Platinums."

We spent the rest of the night celebrating, and at one point, the _awake_ members of the guild went outside so we could watch Lucy summon Monoceros, who was amazing and _gigantic_ and (like the other Platinums) always available.

Lucy would definitely be eager to play with her new spirit.

All in all, it was a wonderful holiday.

* * *

 **If you know psychology, then you know that what Elle is doing with Nab is much more than simply positive reinforcement. Elle, however, is (as I mentioned before) more than a bit unreliable, and doesn't know that.**

 **Here's how psychology works, in this area.**

 **Reinforcement - a good thing.**

 **Punishment - a bad thing.**

 **Positive - gaining.**

 **Negative - losing.**

 **If it's positive reinforcement, you're getting a good thing; ei., candy. If it's negative reinforcement, you're losing a bad thin** **g; ei; less vegetables.**

 **If it's positive punishment, you're getting a bad thing; ei., more vegetables. If it's negative punishment, you're losing a good thing; ie., trampoline time.**

 **Just so we're clear.**

 **I'm hoping my relating Nab and Enno isn't considered racist, but I'm just saying...Erza and Irene. And I think that them being related is a nice connection to Nab eventually joining, and they have the same type of floral wear.**

 **The original take of Peter Pan only had a small mention of it, and it's easy to miss, but here is a clip from the actual book:**

The boys on the island vary, of course, in numbers, according as they get killed and so on; and when they seem to be growing up, which is against the rules, Peter thins them out; but at this time there were six of them, counting the twins as two.

 **Even though I loved Peter Pan as a kid, looking back on it, it's a bit disturbing. He does,** **after all, kidnap children.**

 **But then again, so does Elle.**

 **Since the next chapter is the start of X774, I will list everyone's ages in the beginning of the chapter, since I've had more than a few comments regarding difficulties in keeping track of both the ages and the dates.**

 **Thank you for all of your amazingly wonderful comments. :) I love you guys so much! I did, once again, get another bad review that dampened my mood a bit but then I saw everyone else's comments and got really happy! Some of you nearly made me cry. :D**

 **I do want to all to know that I will finish this story (my muse will see to that), but the real reason I need reassurance is to know whether or not to continue posting the story online, or to take it down if too many people don't like it.**

 **I apologise for the extremely long author's note, and again would like to thank all of your encouraging reviews.**

 **Next stop: Ice Wizards.**


	45. Ultear

**As of this chapter, everyone's ages (youngest to oldest). If there is a second parenthesis after their birthday month, that is how old they are starting at the present time of the chapter, in late March. Also, Jura is 16, and Ichiya is 18. I haven't picked out months yet.**

 **Levy – 6 (July)**

 **Lucy – 6 (June)**

 **Juvia – 6 (April)**

 **Max – 6 (March) (now 7)**

 **Brandish – 6 (February) (now 7)**

 **Cana – 7 (July)**

 **Laki – 7 (February) (now 8)**

 **Freed – 9 (September)**

 **Evergreen – 9 (August)**

 **Nab – 9 (June)**

 **Bickslow – 10 (October)**

 **Elle – 10 (May)**

 **Laxus – 13 (November)**

 **Erigor – 16 (December)**

 **Reedus – 16 (January) (now 17)**

 **Enno – 20 (August)**

 **Wakaba – 26 (November)**

 **Macao – 26 (September)**

 **Layla - 26 (August)**

 **Jude – 28 (December)**

 **Gildarts – 36 (April)**

 **Porlyusica – 68 (November)**

 **Makarov – 77 (March) (now 78)**

* * *

 **Chapter Forty Five - Ultear**

Laxus and I left in March.

Honestly, I didn't really register everything that happened within those first few months of X774, other than the birthday celebrations. After Enno, Macao and Wakaba had thrown their birthdays out for celebration, we began celebrating everyone's birthdays.

Reedus was first, in January, and turned 17. After that, Brandish turned seven in February. While Reedus celebrated by painting everyone, Brandish celebrated by shrinking all the boys down into little dolls to play with (to also celebrate moving on to changing the mass of living beings).

As you can imagine, the boys were not very happy (though I personally think that a miniaturized Laxus is adorable, and I caught Enno playing with a shrunken Macao.

While I did drop by Laki and Max's places for their birthdays, we heavily spent the beginning of March celebrating Makarov's seventy eighth birthday (where there was a huge party and we all had to leave because someone *cough* Makarov *cough* invited a shit-ton of strippers.

It was a little harder dragging Laxus and Reedus out the door than it would have been otherwise, and Enno dragged out Macao by his ear. He also grabbed Wakaba and Gildarts, claiming that if he couldn't enjoy the strippers, neither could they.

They slipped away when Enno was busy tearing into Macao, though.

Erigor came along pretty well. Wonder if he's gay.

Wonder who I can ship him with.

But then my cards monitoring Gray went off – he had started learning magic.

And we had to leave.

* * *

"So…..who's who, exactly?" Laxus asked.

I pointed at the corresponding people. "That's Gray, he's Cana's age. Lyon is a year older, and Ur is the woman teaching them."

"And OH MY MAVIS THAT WOMAN IS NAKED!"

I punched him as Ur finished stripping down. "Quiet down, you idiot. It's how they learn ice magic. And she's still in her underwear."

Laxus finally tore his eyes off of Ur and noticed the boys stripping down, too. "They're the strippers you were talking about, aren't they?"

"Yep."

I requipped my five cards and went over them.

"And who are those?" Laxus asked. "And what does it mean?"

I pointed at Ur, Lyon, and Gray's cards, as they brimmed with magic, even slightly frosting over the cards. "Those belong to the three of them, and it means they're practicing magic."

"And the other two?" he asked.

I pointed to Ultear's, which was sparking dangerously. "That means she's being tortured."

" _Tortured_?" Laxus asked.

I nodded. "Several months ago, I searched for her, but I've been unable to find her location. I know that she eventually escapes, which is what we're waiting for."

He nodded. "And the last one?"

"That means he's dead," I said. "But active."

He blinked at me, before yelling. "What does that even _mean_ , Elle?"

I shushed him, glad that the ice wizards didn't have any sort of superb hearing. "One of Zeref's demons is a necromancer, and he ended up bringing this man back to life. He's hovering in between life and death. I'm hoping you can restart his heart and save his life."

He stared at me before saying, "Are you using me as a human defibrillator?"

"Yes."

"Dammit, Elle!" he said. "Are you telling me you need me here the whole year so you can bring him back to life?"

"No," I said. "And hush."

He stopped and looked at me.

"I don't need you the whole year, but I'd _like_ you the whole year," I said. "Your help would be great. Also, now that I've got Saturn down and the basics of Mercury, I only have two elements left – Ice and Lightning."

Laxus froze and looked around, before turning to me. "You're planning on learning those this year, aren't you?"

I nodded. "I need to surround myself with the cold so I can learn Uranus."

"And you're planning on using me to learn Jupiter, aren't you?"

I nodded. "Yeah, but it's more than that." I looked away and smiled, deep in thought. "I love the kids, all of them, but they can be a bit crowding." I turned and smiled at Laxus. "I want to spend some time with my best friend!"

He sighed and crossed his arms behind his head. "Fine, I _guess_ I can stay here with you. Geez…."

I smiled at him, and pulled out a stick, which I wrapped up and set on fire. "Here you go; I can tell you're starting to get cold, even if you are running at a hotter temperature because of your powers."

He glared at me and took the torch. "Seriously, _why_ do you carry sticks around?"

"I SAID NO QUESTIONS!" I yelled, ignoring him.

"You also said no yelling!" Laxus shouted back.

At that, we both quieted down.

One of my cards beeped, and I was brought back to it.

"What does that mean?" Laxus asked, pointing to Ultear's card.

I smirked. "It means she's escaped." She was in range, and the magic on the card could tell that her location wasn't being blocked anymore.

"So what do we do now?" he asked.

"We need to intercept Ultear before she can get the wrong impression."

"That's great and all," Laxus said. "But it would be a lot more helpful if I knew who the hell you were talking about."

"Ultear is the girl who was getting tortured," I said. "She's a year younger than me (I think), and she has the same problem with Magic Overload. Her mother, Ur, didn't know what to do, so asked the Bureau who claimed they could help. They didn't, and instead told Ur that her daughter died, and continued to experiment on Ultear."

"Why didn't you just ask this Ur lady to take you to the Bureau?" Laxus asked, jerking his head over to Ur.

I froze, then grabbed my head. "Because I'm a fucking idiot. Ahhhhhhh!"

I got up and started to pace. "Since we're going to spend so much time together, I _might_ tell you more about what happens in the future, because I obviously need another opinion."

I stopped pacing and turned back to Laxus, who was staring at the three of them (but mostly Ur). He noticed I caught him and blushed, trying to focus on something else.

"So...they practice Maker Magic?" Laxus asked somewhat desperately.

I ignored Laxus's hormones and nodded. "Yes. I'm hoping that by copying their training, I might be able to get Uranus. It's kind of how I learned Mercury with Maggie."

Laxus nodded. "I get it."

Honestly, I barely know Mercury, at all, and I was hoping to spend some more time training that element, too.

That night, I set up our tent, and we crawled inside. I activated one of Cana's Fluff Cards so we would have a bed and such, and we would spend our night camping out together (to conserve heat) and talking, waiting for Ultear's appearance.

* * *

Less than two days later, my card went off, signaling that Ultear had entered a two hundred-foot range. I perked up from where Laxus and I were sitting, watching Ur, Gray and Lyon practice magic. I decided to hold off on learning any new magic until we solved the situation with Ultear, though I did work on Mercury a bit more (not that it helped any).

"Give me a sec," I told Laxus. "I'll call if I need you."

I teleported to the other side of the clearing, where Ultear was standing, watching her mother laugh with her pupils from between the trees.

"Unforgivable," she whispered.

"Don't be stupid!" I said.

Ultear jumped, swirling around to look at me. "Who are you?"

"I'm the person who is going to fix this," I said. "Look, you think your mother…what, betrayed you or something?"

Ultear glared. "Yes."

I rolled my eyes. "Ultear, the Bureau told your mom that you died. Alright? She thinks you're _dead_. She cries over you, night after night. She took on two pupils to distract herself, and so she could focus on practicing her magic."

Ultear froze, before looking away and saying, "I don't believe you."

God, she was stubborn.

"Look at it this way," I said. "You go down there. Don't say anything, except maybe 'mom' or whatever, and just show her you're alive. If she has a bad reaction, I'll jump down, grab you, and take you away. And then we can go where we want. You can go back to the Bureau, if you want to. You can come join my guild, Fairy Tail. I know that you were having problems with Magical Overload, and I've had similar problems. It can be a bit difficult, but we're working on it. The choice is yours."

Ultear hesitated, before slowly nodding.

"No!" a voice cried.

Brain appeared from the shadows. "I won't let you take her away from me!"

I gaped at him. Was he following her all this time? Why? Did he _expect_ her to turn around, and go back to the Bureau? Was he just playing with her? Would he have kidnapped her back if she decided to do something different? What the hell type of plan would he even have?

 _No time to think about this, Elle_.

"Ultear, run. Go to your mother, and run," I said. "I'll hold him off."

"You can't!" Ultear said, as I requipped my bracelet away.

I wish I had known this was coming.

"I can," I said, looking back at her. "Go!"

" _Dark Capriccio!_ " Brain shouted, and a spiral of dark magic headed for me.

" _Venus's Reflective Shield!_ " I shouted, holding up the barrier and blocking his attack. It bounced off the shield, but dissipated before it could strike Brain again.

Ultear looked at me in shock.

"Go, Ultear!" I shouted. "I'll be fine, but you need to leave, _now._ "

Frightened, she nodded, and ran off, shouting, "Come back safely, Nee-san!"

"I will," I said, determinedly.

Despite the distance, I could hear Ultear shout, "Mama!" and the resounding blubbering and explosion of happiness coming from Ur. But Ultear tried to get her mother's attention. "No, Mama, we need to go! It's not safe, the evil man is coming!

"The what?" Ur asked.

"The evil man, we need to go, now!" Ultear said, dragging them away.

Ur didn't move. "Ultear, what on Earth are you talking about?"

"He's coming back!" Ultear yelled, starting to cry. "Don't you understand, he's trying to take me back to that place and hurt me again!"

"Well, then we gotta hurt him, first!" Gray shouted.

"Don't be an idiot," Lyon said, punching Gray. "Oh, wait. You can't help it."

 _For an ice wizard, that's some burn_.

Ultear screamed and broke down, clutching her head. "Don't you understand!" She cried. "Won't you help me? Unforgivable... _Unforgivable_."

I nearly facepalmed. If Ur didn't get Ultear away quickly, Ultear would be liable to go dark, and all of this would be your nothing.

At least I think so.

Damn, I wish I had read a bit more on psychology.

Ur must have realized _something_ , because she yelled, " _Ice-Make; Wall_ ", scooped up Ultear and ran off, calling the boys after her, leaving behind a wall of ice separating her from us.

Fuck.

I was kinda hoping for Ultear to run and send her super badass Wizard Saint Level Mama after Brain to kick his ass. While she and the boys ran safely away, of course.

I probably should have been a lot clearer with Ultear, and it was just sort of unlucky that Ultear didn't mention someone else fighting the enemy, or Ur might have joined in anyway.

Well, it was no biggie, right? I had Laxus.

"Laxus!" I shouted.

I really hope he wasn't stuck behind that wall.

"Calling for help, girl?" Brain sneered.

"So what if I am, you pillock?" I yelled.

"What is a pillock?" Brain asked.

I waved a hand dismissively. "It's British."

"What's that?"

 _Damn you, Mashima._

I shook my head and grit my teeth, focusing back on the fight. My magic was shaky, and I didn't know if it was because it didn't have to time to settle back into my container before being used, or if it was something else, but this was _not_ what I wanted to do right now. In addition to that, since he used such dark magic, Venus would be the best element to fight against him with. The others wouldn't be nearly as effective.

" _Beams of Venus!_ " I yelled. A series of beams the size of my fists exploded towards him, burning him and roughing him up, but I knew it was gonna take more than that to put him down.

" _Dark-_ "

" _Lightning Dragon Wing Attack!_ "

Laxus appeared in front of me. "Don't. Touch. _H_ _er._ " He hissed.

"What's this?" Brain asked. "A _Dragon Slayer_?"

"Yeah," Laxus retorted. "Which means that it shouldn't be hard to slay _you_ at all."

Brain's eyes widened. "Oh, I know you! You're _Ivan's_ boy!"

Laxus froze. "W…what?"

"How are you liking the lacrima?" Brain asked. "I told Ivan that it could be a bit rough on you, but he convinced me to give it to him. And I see it was a success!"

" _What_?" Laxus whispered.

"It seems that the _right eye_ was point of entry…" Brain was muttering to himself.

My anger built. He was purposefully manipulating Laxus. I had no idea what it would do, but " _Cleansing Power of Venus!_ "

It wasn't meant to be a battle spell, and (now that I think about it) would have been just as handy as using Venus's Sword on Cana.

But because he used such dark magic (and, you know, was such a piece of shit)...

The spell struck him hard, and he let out a loud yell of pain, before shouting, " _Dark Gravity_!"

My body slammed onto the ground, and I could nearly feel my bones creaking under the pressure. My spell faded, and Brain's laughing filled the clearing.

I tried teleporting, only to find it didn't work. Brain's laughing continued as I struggled under the weight; "You're trying to teleport away, aren't you? Don't you know? You can't teleport in a manipulated gravity field."

Damn. That meant it was up to Laxus.

My eyes moved to him, and I could still see Laxus pinned to the ground not too far from me, though it was obviously at a much lighter pressure.

Or maybe mine was just stronger because he didn't like me.

"Laxus," I whispered as Brain moved closer. "Snap out of it…"

"…gravity can't hold _light_."

With a snap, Laxus _shifted_ into his Lightning Body, and charged at Brain, generating up his power to take him on.

" _Dark Gravity!_ " Brain repeated, trying to hold Laxus down. Nothing happened, and Laxus came closer. " _Dark Gravity!_ " he yelled again.

Except he was obviously going for a different tactic – if he couldn't stop Laxus, he'd just hurt me.

I couldn't hold back the cry of pain as I felt the weight increase. Almost as if someone was standing on my bones, ready to snap them in half.

A very different part of me was reminded of the commercials about elephants sitting on people – I think it was for depression?

 _Not the time, Elle!_

Another shout left me as the weight shifted.

Laxus froze.

"Not another move, boy, or I break her bones," Brain hissed.

Laxus didn't move. Neither did Brain.

Neither did I, but I couldn't really help it.

"It seems we are at a stalemate," Brain said quietly.

"Laxus," I said quietly, at a level Brain couldn't hear. "Close your eyes…NOW! _Blinding Light of Venus_!"

Brain let out a cry of pain as the light assaulted his eyes, and I shouted. "Go, Laxus!"

" _Lightning Dragon Roar!_ " Laxus shouted, sending the biggest roar I'd seen so far at Brain, which hit him dead on.

When the light vanished, it revealed a crispy, half-blind Brain. "That won't be enough to-"

Before he could finish his sentence, I requipped the giant CHLOROFORM that I had tucked away in my requip storage. Despite being nearly five months old, it did the job well enough, landing on Brain and knocking him out, with the addition of the smell keeping him unconscious longer.

With him out of the picture, the weight on me vanished, and I was able to breathe easily again.

"Elle?" Laxus asked, coming around to my side and kneeling down. "Are you okay?"

I sighed. "Next time, can you get hurt?"

He chuckled a bit. "How about neither of us get hurt?" He paused, thinking. "Why didn't you use _Pluto's Body_?"

I shook my head, still lying buried in the snow. The CHLOROFORM was far away enough that it didn't drift over just yet. "No way, it's too close to Darkness Magic. There's a chance he could take control of me."

He nodded grimly. "Did you do what we set out to accomplish, today?"

"Yeah," I said quietly, smiling. "Yeah."

I paused, before continuing.

"You gonna tell me what all of the possessiveness was?" I teased, smiling up at him. "'Don't. Touch. _Her_.'"

I mimicked.

He blushed, looking away. "What, you're my friend and dragons are territorial or something, right? So I'm just keeping my friend safe..."

I nodded. "Mmmhmm, what ever you say, you stupid tsundere."

"NOT A TSUNDERE!"

* * *

I didn't want to get up anytime soon, so instead Laxus carried me to our camp, on the other side of the clearing. He let me lay in the snow as he packed up most of our camp, after hearing my reasoning that the Ice Mages probably wouldn't return to that practicing spot, and so we should move, too.

Laxus finished packing and he spent a few minutes by the fire as I laid sprawled on the ground, before I was finally ready to get up, and requip it away.

With the tent and our other supplies all in my storage, I pulled out my bracelets and put them back on. I also pulled out one of their pins so I could track where Ultear and the others went. Once Brain woke up, he'll probably realize the same thing I had, and dismiss the spot and disappear.

With one action, I have already solved several problems. The ripples caused by Ultear going dark weren't going to happen, and that alone should save several lives.

Now, I just need to talk to her.

* * *

 **Sorry about the wait. But I'm back now! :)**

 **I also thought that Teleportation was a bit _too_ handy, if you get my drift. So I ended up giving it some limitations. Also thank you, EdenAngel7 for helping me work out the kinks in some of the chapter.**


	46. Electric Birthdays

**Chapter Forty Six - Electric Birthdays**

Ultear Milkovich was possibly the happiest she'd ever been. She was back with her mother, and she even had two little brothers (even if she was trying to ignore all of their extremely annoying traits). Her magical overload wasn't hurting as much, and everything was well.

 _Now if only I could thank Nee-san_ , Ultear thought as she entered her room.

"Hello, Ultear," I said, sitting on the windowsill.

Ultear froze, before happily crying out, "Nee-san!"

She ran forward and grabbed my hand, dragging me back over to her bed and having me sit. "I'm so glad you're okay, Nee-san! I was so worried! And thank you so much!"

I laughed. I don't think I'd ever seen her this excitable before. "Calm down, Ultear. Breathe. We've got some things we need to discuss, and I'm afraid I can't stay too long."

Okay, the 'not staying too long' thing probably wasn't true, but I just know that if I leave Laxus alone, he'll eventually do something stupid.

Ultear frowned, but seemed to relax more after a few deep breaths.

"Here," I said, handing her a pair of inhibitor cuffs. "For now, only wear one. If your Magical Overload still gets to be too much, put on the other. And yes, you can still practice magic with this on."

She nodded.

I handed her one of my Call Cards. "Alright, so here's what's going on. If you're in danger, don't hesitate to send a surge of magic through this. You might even end up breaking the card, but it will be fine. It will alert me that you're in trouble, and that you need my help. If your one of your brothers *cough* Gray *cough* does something stupid, then I want you to call me immediately. And if you need to speak with me, tiny short spurts of magic. Got it?"

Ultear nodded seriously, and took it.

"I must be going now," I said. "Goodnight, Ultear."

"Goodnight, Nee-san!" Ultear said happily. "And thank you!"

I was still surprised by Ultear's attitude, and the way she was acting younger, before I figured that it was probably because of the ordeal she went through. If she wanted to revert back to a younger age in order to deal, that was fine. She probably wanted to forget the torture, and if she'd been in a feverlike state with the Magical Overload beforehand, it kind of makes sense - like she wanted to enjoy her childhood.

At least she wasn't screaming like last night.

And then I left.

* * *

"Aren't you supposed to _embrace_ the cold, or something?" Laxus asked.

I glared at him. "I'm in my bathing suit, lying in the snow. What more do you want?"

"Maybe if you stop the roaring fire (or move away from it at least), I'd be more inclined to believe you," he said.

"It's _cold…_ " I whined.

"You'll adjust." Laxus rolled his eyes.

"You're so mean to me," I muttered, moving farther away from the fire and meditating again.

I could manipulate the element easily enough, but I was still focused on making it on my own, so I sat there meditating.

As much as I wanted to take off my bracelet so I could immerse myself fully, I couldn't chance it. Even simply starting up a newer potion of my magic, just trying to get stronger, was a bit of a worry, and had Porlyusica fussing over me.

But this was the best chance for me to learn Uranus, and I want to get down some of each spell by the end of the year. Or at least get a handle of each element.

I still couldn't really pull off any of the big ones for major elements. I think that even without the bracelets, I still wouldn't be able to properly pull them off. Hell, it felt like something was missing about them...

Even when I had used Venus's spell during the Pandemonium Event at the Grand Magic Games, it felt incomplete.

Maybe I just wasn't strong enough yet...

Which brought me to thinking about Lucy; the way her power was growing was starting to scare me, and didn't seem right. A human body shouldn't be able to hold all of that magic (well, at that age, anyway), so I couldn't help but wonder what was going on.

Corvus had visited me one night (not too long before Laxus and I had left) and told me that everything was fine for now, but that's not really all that reassuring.

"Stop thinking about something else and _meditate_ ," Laxus complained. "I want to see some Ice Magic."

"Then watch the others," I said.

We were close enough to Ur and her kids that we could watch over them and I could learn how to mimic their magic. Ultear was resting, but would end up joining the training sessions when she got a better handle of herself.

"I want to see some _Planetary_ Ice Magic," Laxus corrected.

"You're insufferable," I retorted, falling back into my meditation.

"Eh," he shrugged.

I glared at him, all comfy next to the roaring fire while I was freezing my ass off.

Fucking magic, man.

Apparently, my Fire Magic made it nearly impossible for me to get hypothermia or frostbite. I could still get it, but I probably wouldn't get it accidentally while I was training in the snow, which was a good thing.

By the time April 26th hit, I had a pretty good understanding of Uranus, and could get a few spells down if I used _all_ of my magic (though none were to a strong extent). Like Mercury, I was having trouble with it, and I think it was because of the type of magic. I could _use_ the elements easily enough, but I couldn't make it on my own, merely manipulate it.

However, I set up the group's monitoring cards in my requip space, put it on extreme alert, and grabbed Laxus.

"We're leaving," I said.

"Where?" he asked.

I smirked. "It's April 26th. We're going to surprise Juvia."

* * *

It was Juvia's birthday, and we decided to sneak into the guild. Everyone was gathered around a table, ready to sing happy birthday, before Laxus and I kicked the door open. "Happy 7th Birthday, Juvia!" we both shouted.

Okay, so maybe we're not that sneaky.

Juvia froze and looked at us, before jumping up excitedly and running into my arms. "Onee-sama!" she turned to Laxus. "Onii-sama! You came!"

"Of course we came, sweetheart," I said. "It's your seventh birthday!"

Looking around, I was glad to see that everyone else was there, even Brandish and the Heartfilias. "Alright, guys, we're here for the day! We'll be coming for your special days, so expect us! Unless something goes really, really wrong, but I'll try and send some sort of notice, or something."

"Why didn't you show up for my birthday?" Gildarts asked, as more than a few of the girls ran to hug me, even with Juvia in my arms.

"Maybe you're just not that special," I teased, trying to deal with the wave of children. Somehow, Freed ended up underneath the rest of them, and when the rest of the girls disappeared he was still on the floor hugging my legs.

"Also, we don't actually know when your birthday is," Laxus pointed out.

"Yeah, alright..." Gildarts said glumly.

"Freed, I love you, but you need to let go," I said, as he was still hugging my legs. "I can't move."

Juvia giggled.

* * *

We spent the rest of the day with Juvia, and we had a nice change of the weather. Now that the pool was finished, we would jump off the trampoline into the pool outside, which was extremely fun. I also spent some time discretely trying to practice some Uranus Magic, so I could see how well I could do in a warmer environment.

I couldn't.

We said goodbye to everyone, told them that I wouldn't be stopping by for my birthday, and went back to the North.

Several days later, my birthday came around, and Laxus asked what I wanted to do. I replied that I didn't really have any plans other than training, so he insisted that I take the day off and that we go into town for ice cream.

I didn't really have problems with it, so I put the cards on high monitoring and we spent the day in town, relaxing.

* * *

It's odd thinking that I'm eleven years old – or in all actuality, twenty one. Laxus is thirteen.

I've been here for two years.

It feels like less, and it feels like longer.

"Laxus, why do you think it's so hard for me to get the hang of Uranus?" I asked, eating my ice cream. "Or even Mercury? It can't be because they're solids, because so is Earth."

Laxus hummed thoughtfully. "Maybe because you're just manipulating the earth? You're not actually conjuring it."

I stopped, trying to think back. Honestly, Laxus could be right.

"Then what do you suggest?" I asked.

He sighed. "Can you use Venus in the dark?"

I shrugged. "Yeah. I mean, it's a lot harder, so I'll usually just use Pluto, but I can."

He nodded. "I think it's because you're converting light energy into your spells. If you're in the dark, you're conjuring it. I think you need to practice a bit more – you gather the light, and then harden it, right?"

I nodded.

"Maybe you should try gathering water and freezing it," Laxus suggested. "Until you can do it instantaneously and use Uranus spells? Maybe practicing that, and Venus magic in the dark, will help you more with conjuring certain elements."

It made sense. I could be taking the water for Neptune from the air, and I could make fire for Mars by heating up particles. Uranus and Mercury, however, were different, and much harder.

I couldn't help wondering how Gray – hell, how _any_ of them – did it all the time.

I distinctly remember how Silver could freeze entire people, almost instantly, or how Gray froze the Bane Particles in the air. Was it by freezing the moisture over them?

"Concentrate on temperature, then," I muttered.

Laxus nodded. "You easily caught a hang of Earth and Saturn because those are readily available to you. And I think you progressed so far with Venus's magic because you compared that to solidified Celestial Magic, and you wanted to show off for Lucy."

He wasn't exactly wrong. But there was also something about solidifying Light Magic that made it easy. But maybe that's just because I've always had a thing for space, and after growing up with things like ray guns and light sabers, solidified light isn't a very hard concept for me.

"So I think we should try Jupiter, now," Laxus continued. "Since it should be easier to do."

I nodded. Like fire, lightning was caused by friction and ozone in the air.

"Do you have any idea how you should start learning?" he asked.

I nodded.

Though he wasn't going to like this. And though I'd never tell him, I tested it out slightly with some of the electricity in my house and in the guild.

As hard as I had tried, I could never produce it on my own.

It's odd that a spark is harder than a flame.

"I need you to zap me," I said.

He raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"You need to shock me," I explained. "I won't be able to get any of Jupiter down until I can resonate with an Electric Mage's magical frequency."

"Elle…"

"Just do it, Laxus," I said, sighing. "It's my birthday."

"That's one reason why I don't want to do it," Laxus grumbled.

"Laxus..."

A small zap hit me, and it hurt, but I also realized that it wouldn't nearly be enough.

"Again, Laxus," I said. "Stronger, this time."

He grit his teeth and sent another bolt at me, this one a lot stronger. I tried my best not to cry out, knowing it would make him feel worse. My fists clenched

"Harder, Laxus," I said.

He sent another, and I couldn't help the small scream that came from me.

"Elle!" he shouted.

"Again!" I said, gasping.

"But-"

"Again, Laxus!" I yelled. "I need to do this."

I had to get as strong as possible, and if Laxus had to shock me a bit, so be it.

I just wish it wasn't on his head. While I was closest to Laxus (and this would make the 'feelings' part of the magic taken care of), I would have rather found another mage to do it, so it didn't weigh on him.

Closing his eyes, he sent another blast at me, drawing out more yells.

"Elle-" he tried.

"Again!" I gasped, trying to meditate.

I couldn't mess up this time - it was my last chance. Neither of us would be able to try another time.

He sent another bolt at me and this time I caught it as it struck, resonating with its frequency. Lightning crackled around me, and purple sparks jumped off of my electric aura.

"You're…doing it…" Laxus said, his eyes wide.

I let the electricity fade completely, before starting it up again, proving that I could provide it on my own. It was cracking through my veins, and I was able to get a good trip in it.

Just glad I didn't break another cuff, this time.

I smiled at Laxus softly. "See?" I asked. "All better."

He got up from where he was kneeling and just about tackled me into a hug, squeezing me tight.

"Laxus, I'm okay," I gasped.

" _Never_ make me do that again," he hissed, holding me tighter. "Promise me, Elle. Never again."

"Never again," I repeated. "I'm sorry for putting you through that, but I've already tried producing electricity on my own, and I knew that I'd need to resonate with your magic in order to pull it off."

"Besides, it's safer than trying to shock myself by destroying something electric," I pointed out. "This way I can control the voltage."

No point in yelling him that I already tried that, and it wouldn't work because there was no magic to it.

His grip loosened, but he didn't let go. "I smell blood."

"Hmm?" I asked.

He grabbed my hand. I had clenched them so hard that I had broken through skin. I didn't actually think that could happen.

"Hey, I'm fine," I said, waving it off. It'd heal easily enough. "And look!" I held up my other hand, holding a ball of electricity. "I can feed you now. So you should be pretty good in battle, too!"

It was one reason I had asked for what I had – with my Planetary Magic, I could feed all the Dragon Slayers except for Cobra.

Maybe I should carry around cyanide or something.

How easy it is to get ahold of cyanide?

Apple seeds have cyanide, right?

Oh, who the hell knows?

Laxus took my peace offering for what it was and swallowed the ball. He made a bit of a face. "I think you need to work on your lightning. It doesn't taste that good. Kinda bitter."

I felt like his words physically hit me. "It doesn't taste good? Wahhhhhhh!"

"I'm sure it'll get better!" he encouraged. "Levy's got better with time, same with Cana's. You'll be fine. And besides, it tastes bitter like... like dark chocolate! A good bitter!"

I certainly hope so. That was slightly better. I mean, hey, at least it's chocolate.

We spent the rest of the day sitting next to the fire, as I slowly manipulated my Lightning Magic, practicing some of the smaller spells. It was certainly a lot easier than the solid elements.

After eating some dinner and s'mores, we curled up inside our tent on our fluffy bed and fell asleep, Laxus still holding on to me as he had the whole day.

* * *

 **So... Yeah that was always gonna happen.**

 **Just a warning: This may be a fix it fic, but I'm an angst junkie. Though this will still have a pretty happy ending, there will be angst from time to time. Especially as they get older.**

 **Also, yes, apple seeds have cyanide.**


	47. Bureaus, Birthdays, Blizzards and Babies

**Holy shit, I apologize for the late update. And for the person who asked, I will be trying to update two times a week.**

 **Also...alliterations, anyone?**

* * *

 **Chapter Forty Seven - Bureaus, Birthdays, Blizzards and Babies  
**

Ultear had helped Ur report the Bureau.

Within a few days, the entire place was cleared out and the kids returned to their families or to another guild.

I didn't recognize any of them, but I'm sure we'd see a few of them again, anyhow.

Though I couldn't help but wonder why Brain hadn't cleared out the place first; it was easy enough to guess what would happen when Ultear told Ur what had happened.

Then again, he was listed as missing, so maybe he just didn't make it back on time.

I knew we'd see him again.

* * *

"Who was he, anyway?" Laxus asked.

"Hmm?" I responded. "The guy we fought? His name is Brain, and he was the one in charge at the Bureau."

Laxus's face darkened. "So he was the one who was torturing Ultear?"

I nodded. "I'm just warning you, but this probably won't be the last time we have to deal with him either."

"They did say he wasn't caught," he muttered, slightly lost in thought. "And...he's the one who gave my dad the lacrima...?"

"Based on what he said, probably," I replied. "Most strong dark wizards communicate things with each other."

It was how Ivan heard about the Lumen Histoire the first time around - from Second Master Precht (aka Master Hades).

Laxus seemed a bit resigned after that - though whether it was because his father had been associating with dark guilds, or for torturers in particular, I have no idea.

* * *

Laxus spent just as much time training as I did, concentrating on his physical body and his magical strength. I would concentrate on learning Uranus, and he would do a bunch of push-ups and sit-ups and other-ups in the corner.

I was working on turning Water into Ice, and though it was a slow process, it was working. I was a bit more worried about learning Mercury – I didn't really have a liquid form for that. I was hoping that by learning to use Uranus, I'd be good enough at solids to pull off Mercury.

I could manipulate all of the elements well enough – if I was surrounded by them. If I was in a junkyard, I would be able to do Mercury just fine.

The fact that I was, quite literally, in a winter wonderland made Uranus a bit easier, but I was still having trouble.

So much trouble that Lucy's birthday passed by before I got anything.

* * *

When June 1st came, Laxus and I dropped by and spent the day at the guild, where Lucy was celebrating her birthday.

Instead of the eager, exuberant hug I was expecting, I got an armful of a sad Lucy.

"Lucy?" I asked. "What's wrong?"

She sniffled. "I…I'm still only at five, Ellie-nee!"

I didn't understand what she meant until it hit me. She could still only open five gates, which means she wouldn't get another Zodiac key or Phoenix's key, the next Platinum.

"That's fine," I said, soothing her. "You're still extremely strong, Lucy, and I know that you'll get it eventually. Can I speak to Corvus?"

She nodded, wiping away her tears, and pulled out Corvus's key. " _Open, Gate of the Crow, Corvus!_ "

Corvus appeared. "Hello, my Princess," he said.

"Hey, I'd like to talk to you," I said.

He sighed and walked with me as we left the room.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Lucy said she can still only open five gates. Usually, she'd be able to open another by now. Is something wrong?"

He sighed. "No. And we were waiting for this, anyway…"

"What do you mean?" I asked, suspicious.

He hesitated. "What exactly…do you know about Stellar Magic?"

I gave him a look. "More than most, but apparently not enough. You gonna tell me what's up, or not?"

He sighed. "Those who use Stellar Magics…you included…are able to keep a secondary magical container on the Astral Plane. This is different from Second Origin, and Jellal, (though he didn't know what it was or how he activated it) managed to use it a bit his first time around, which is how he became a Wizard Saint at such a young age."

"Okay…" I said, not entirely getting it.

"Lucy is currently at her peak. You see, she picked this up so easily because her left over magic from the previous timeline left an echo – not enough for her to already have it, but enough for it to be gained back easily, which you've noticed. Jellal, who actually had magic stored on the other plane, will be able to adapt much easier; he probably already has magic."

So...Lucy picked up an echo of her previous magic? Maybe that was why she was so much more boisterous and excited than I would have expected. She's getting a second chance to have a fun childhood. Emotions, after all, are correlated with magic, and if she could feel her previous loneliness, from having a strict and firm childhood, it would make sense that she was so much freer this time around.

Especially if she felt loneliness from Aquarius's sacrifice.

"Alright," I said. "And what is that doing with Lucy, now?"

"Lucy is like you," Corvus said. "Except you currently have those bracelets on because you have too much magic for your body." He gestured to my magic inhibiting cuffs. "Lucy has filled her own core, _as well as_ her core on the Astral Plane. With the exception of opening her Second Origin, it's impossible for her to get much stronger than she currently is, without growing. Her body won't be able to handle any more. She's at such a good level now because she was born with it – if you were born with Planetary Magic, it should have automatically gone off into your Astral Core. Because you weren't, it's not automatic – you can still unlock an Astral Core, but you'll have to do it manually."

I nodded, understanding. "I get it now." I looked at him speculatively. "Do you know how to unlock it?"

He nodded. "Yes, but I'm not telling. It's forbidden."

I sighed. "I figured, but I thought I'd give it a shot. I hate these stupid things." I shook the cuffs.

"I'm sure you'll find out eventually," he said, and made to leave.

"One more thing, Corvus," I said. "How is Phoenix doing?"

He paused, and sighed. "He's better, physically, but he still won't be able to open his gate on his own until around October or November of this year. And even still, he should not attempt to heal Queen Ame until he is summoned by Lucy."

I nodded. "I know that, I was just wondering."

We left the room and I explained what I could to Lucy, and though she was disappointed, she understood. "It sucks I'm going to have to wait so long for Phoenix and the next Zodiac, though," she said quietly.

"Not exactly," Jude said.

We looked at him. "What do you mean, Dad?" Lucy asked.

"Elle might not be able to give you a Zodiac…" he held out a box. "But I can."

Lucy ripped into the paper and opened it. "Aries," she breathed.

"I know you didn't have it," Jude said to me. "And decided I wanted to give it to her first."

"Thank you, Daddy!" Lucy shouted as she jumped into Jude's arms, him swinging her around. She was so happy she was _literally_ glowing with magic, and it led credence with the theory of her remembering her emotions from the first time around.

I smiled at Lucy, who looked back, beaming, from her father's arms. "See? You still got a Zodiac, and you've got some Silver Keys, too."

I held out my present, which held Hercules, Perseus, and Andromeda – all Legend Keys I had.

Lucy squealed when she saw the three of them, and I got hit by the flying tackling hug I had been expecting. "Thank you, Ellie-nee! Thank you thank you thankyouthankyouthankyou-"

"You're welcome," I interrupted, gasping for breath.

There was more than a little giggling as she let me go. I eventually managed to explain to her that Aries would be included, and that she would now need to open all seven gates in order for the next Zodiac. She understood, and pointed out that she still had Phoenix to look forward to before that.

We spent the rest of the day together, doing a mixture of things and playing a lot of games. Lucy also summoned the Argo and we all played on it, but it wasn't even Peter Pan anymore – it was a crazy weird mixture of things.

She even got Laxus to put on a dragon costume.

Man, that was the best.

I still have pictures.

I also spent the day cracking Pikachu jokes and getting Laxus to say his name repeatedly.

No one else got it.

And Laxus eventually stopped saying his own name when he realized I was teasing him about it.

All in all , it was a great day.

But with Lucy getting Aries, it meant that there was only one more Gold Key we had to worry about:

Capricorn.

And Zoldeo.

* * *

After that we went back North, where it was freezing cold, all the time.

But I finally got the jump I was needing for Uranus.

SPLAT.

"What the hell, Laxus?" I asked, breaking out of my meditation. I wiped snow off of me.

Laxus tossed a snowball up and down before lobbying it at me. I teleported out of the way before it could hit.

"You need a break," he said, tossing a snowball up and down. "So let's fight!"

"Oh, for fucks-" I rolled my eyes. "Laxus, I'm serious."

Another ball hit me in the face.

"So am I," he grinned.

"That's it!" I yelled, scooping up snow and lobbying it at him.

The game was on.

We built our own forts and threw more and more snow at each other, some just flying everywhere.

But I was already losing. Laxus, cheating tsundere that he was, had already built a bunch of snow balls before he started, so he ended up with extra ammunition.

Instinctively, I called out, " _Blizzard of Uranus_!" A whirlwind of snow shot out from my palms, and hit Laxus instantly, burying him under a pile of snow.

Oops.

"Laxus!" I yelled, running over. I stood outside the pile, unsure. "You okay in there?"

"Yeah, I'm good."

With an explosion of power, the snow vaporized instantly, leaving the area around Laxus still crackling.

 _Blizzard of Uranus_ is listed as the easiest of Uranus's spells, which I now understood. It was a blizzard, so it wasn't really ice – just snow. It was the in-between step for learning solids.

This was the first time I actually, _truly_ produced a Uranus spell on my own.

Laxus was smiling at me. "You finally got a spell down? Nice."

Still eyeing him oddly, I sat down to meditate, and he joined me.

As I focused on the snow and drifted off into a trance, I couldn't help wondering if he had planned it.

* * *

We spent the rest of June arguing. Specifically, on whether or not we would go see the Grand Magic Games.

I was for staying up North. Laxus was all for going to Crocus.

"Laxus…" I said.

"Look, I thought you said that you were waiting for a timeframe – wasn't that timeframe Ultear escaping? Now that you've fixed that, what's left?"

 _About three other things_ , I thought, but didn't say aloud.

Eventually, I managed to convince him that it was too unsafe (especially with certain things coming up) and we decided to stay behind, promising each other that we'd visit everyone later, during Levy's birthday.

* * *

Laxus continued to complain a lot about missing the Games, so I finally caved and said that we'd see the final day.

In return he had to listen to me for 5 specific times I demand it ( _not_ including emergency situations), or for a year.

He chose the 5 times.

Laxus was extremely nervous at that (but glad we were seeing the Games), and we left early the evening of July 6th, expecting it to be the day of rest.

It was not.

By the sound of it, they had actually added an extra day where the guild could form tag teams, and fight against other teams. One person on each team would not be fighting.

Fairy Tail Team A (who, though in the lead, seemed to be struggling a bit) was made of Erigor, Lucy, Cana, Juvia and Freed. Freed had decided to sit this one out and Cana and Lucy paired up and easily kicked the ass of their first opponents, two men from Quatro Cerberus. Erigor and Juvia had a more difficult time against Phantom Lord, but still beat them.

Both of Phantom Lord's teams had lost their battles. Even though they were strong mages, they weren't exactly the best at teamwork.

Team B had Macao and Wakaba pair up, as well as Enno and Maggie. Clarke, oddly enough, wasn't competing.

When I pointed this out to Laxus, he pointed out how Clarke was going to retire, and had only really stayed in the guild to tutor Levy.

Honestly, Clarke seemed so spiffy and fit for an old man that I'd forgotten that.

Lamia Scale seemed to be doing much better this year; in fact, they were directly tied against Phantom Lord for 2nd Place. Quatro Cerberus, however, wasn't far behind those two.

On the other hand, Blue Pegasus was last, and though they seemed to have more points than the previous year, I heard that they just barely got past the qualifying round, and nearly lost the 6th spot to Phantom Lord's second team.

"What do we do now?" Laxus asked.

I frowned. "There's something I've been meaning to do…you can come with, or stay in the sitting room, I don't care."

"All…right?" Laxus said warily.

I lead him toward Mercurius. When he finally seemed to realize that our destination was the castle, he started freaking out. "Elle, I know you like breaking into places, but we're _not_ breaking into the Royal Palace."

"Don't worry, we're not breaking in," I said.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

"I already did that," I continued.

His groan was hilarious.

"Don't worry, it's fine," I said, entering the castle. Laxus was right on my tail, looking around warily at everything.

The Royal Receptionist (yeah, that's totally what I'm calling it now) led me into a room, and Laxus (once again) followed warily.

"What are you scared of?" I asked, laughing as I sat on a sofa.

"Many things," he said. "You included."

I frowned. "I don't _actually_ scare you though, right?"

He sighed, before chuckling. "I'm scared of your craziness and what I'm going to be dragged into next. But no, it's not actually _you_ I'm afraid of."

I smiled. "Good."

"Ah, Ella, it's good to see you," Toma said, entering the room and carrying Hisui.

"Hello, Your Majesty," I said. "I'm sorry I haven't visited sooner, but you seemed to be doing pretty fine on your own."

Toma smiled down at the small child. "Yes, I am doing quite well. We both are."

"That's good to know," I said, smiling at the small baby. She had grown a lot since last time, but she was still pretty small. "I can't believe she's going to be one year old in less than a month."

Hisui woke up just then, and smiled at me, staring at me attentively.

"Hi, Hisui-hime!" I said. "I'm Elle!"

"You don't need to be so formal, Ella," Toma said, settling down on the couch opposite. "I've officially made you a Royal Friend."

I blinked at him, starting to choke up. "Thank you. Toma." I turned back to Hisui. "You hear that Hisui? I'm a Royal Friend, which means I can be your Nee-chan!"

Laxus choked behind me. I ignored him.

"Though, I suggest you don't really _look up_ to me," I continued. "You'll make your father's hair turn even grayer."

"What?" Toma asked. "My hair's still green!"

I looked up at him, but could tell he was just playing the part – there was a bit of a twinkle in his eye.

I pulled Hisui onto my lap and turned to Laxus. "And this, Hisui, is my friend Laxus."

"Hello," Laxus said, more than a little nervous, though whether it's because Hisui was a baby or a princess (or both), I was unsure.

On the realization we had nowhere to stay, Toma offered to let us stay the night, and we spent the rest of the evening playing with Hisui, and looking forward to seeing the kids and the rest of the Games.

* * *

 **So...news.**

 **I am going to college!**

 **I want to be a director and a writer, and I got into Emerson, a very good film school, but I wasn't able to afford it so I deferred for a year (last year was supposed to be freshman year).**

 **This year, though, I got the right financial aid, so I'm going! Yay! (Also why I was so occupied lately).**

 **Also...for those of you trying to picture Elle. I kinda have a thing against bangs, even though they are done different in anime, so Elle has her hair like grown-up Cana.**

 **Also, if you haven't already guessed; Ellaxus will be a bit possessive, on both ends.**

 **And if you've noticed Elle has been cursing less, that's my job transferring to my writing. Though with what's coming up... Let's just say we're going to need some new fans. :3**

 **Also, I put a poll on my profile about other characters in the story. Check it out! :)**


	48. The 2nd Annual GMG

**Okay, so if you LOVE Lucy (like I do), and sometimes ship her with multiple different characters (like I do) and love redo fics where they travel back in time and change things because they have knowledge of the future (like I do) and you also love baby dragons (like I do) then open a new tab right now. I found this fanfic the other day (I actually meant to tell you all about it last chapter but I refrained because the author's note was already huge) and it's amazing! It's also eerily similar to this one (I nearly screamed when they announced the team name) and I think all of you who are impatient about the ToH and Dragon Slayers will be satisfied by reading this. It's called Raising Dragons by Merble.**

 **Also sorry for not replying to comments as I usually do, but I figured this would make up for it. And for all the new people joining us, thank you, and enjoy the rest of the ride!**

* * *

 **Chapter Forty Eight - The 2nd Annual Grand Magic Games: July 7th, X774**

Early in the morning the next day, there was a knock on their hotel door.

"Who is it?" Cana called.

I kicked the door open. "It's us!"

"What do you have against doors?" Laxus muttered, eyeing the door. "You're always kicking them."

I ignored him.

Most of the kids stared in shock before three flying missiles activated. Those three being Juvia, Lucy, and Freed.

Laxus managed to stop me from hitting the ground, but I still had three tiny people on me, and the older they got, the _heavier_ they got.

"Guys," I wheezed. "I'd like to breathe, please."

After some grumbling, they got off and settled back down. Like before, they had created one large bed – except they had moved the beds provided by the hotel out of the room, and used a mix of Cana's and Aries's fluff instead.

"What are you doing here?" Erigor asked.

"We came to watch you compete!" I said happily. "I know we can't see all of it, but we were able to come for the last day, at least. We didn't know they added a day, so now we've got an extra one. So, who's competing?"

I already knew, but I wanted to know their reasoning behind it.

Erigor, Cana, Lucy, Juvia, Levy and Freed put their hands up.

"I'm the reserve," Levy said, answering my unasked question. "I want Freed to have a chance to compete this year. Plus, he's developed some really awesome spells!"

I smiled. "That's great."

I turned to the others. "And how do you guys feel about this?"

"I want to have more souls before I do anything," Bickslow admitted. Papa hummed next to him.

"I'm not ready yet," Nab admitted. "I know my magic is a family magic, but I still haven't gotten the hang of it."

I frowned. It had been several months. Maybe I should see if I could do some research…

Evergreen and Brandish exchanged a glance. "We both agree that we're going to train hard, and participate next year," Evergreen said.

"For now though…I want more control," Brandish said. "And Evergreen wants to expand her strength, and area-wide Fairy attacks."

I nodded. "Awesome, guys."

"How have you been?" Lucy asked.

I smiled. "Well, I've got one element down pretty well." I summoned a ball of lightning and threw it at Laxus.

He swallowed it. "Much better," he said.

 _Yes_ , I thought silently.

"What about Uranus?" Levy asked.

"It's a bit more difficult," I admitted. "But I'm working on it."

They dragged us inside and onto the fluffy bed.

"Do you guys have any plans for the finals?" I asked them.

They nodded. "You'll just have to watch it," Cana said.

Lucy nodded. "Yeah, we planned it out way ahead of time."

"Awesome!" I said.

When it came down to deciding what to do for the day off, the boys (poor things they were) got outvoted by the girls, and we ended up painting each other's nails before the Preliminaries.

The boys were adamant about not doing it, with the exception of Erigor, who found some silver nail polish and decided to wear it.

He says it's to piss his father off tomorrow.

Something tells me he won't remove it when the games are over, though.

Though the boys didn't want to participate at all, the girls insisted, and the boys ended up painting some of the girl's nails.

They swore never to speak of it, and I discretely hid all of the pictures I managed to take of them doing so.

* * *

Laxus and I were very eager to see how the finale would end. After all, without my teleportation or Laxus's _Lightning Body_ , the group would have difficulty replicating our tactics from the previous year, and they had refused to tell us what they were going to do.

Exchanging looks from our spots in the Fairy Tail section, I knew that Laxus had come to the same conclusion as I did.

When the gong sounded, the team split.

Juvia and Freed went searching for teams on the ground, and Lucy, Erigor and Cana went as high as they possibly could, in order to pick off people from the sky.

This would have worked a lot better if I had given her Sagittarius, but Lucy did a pretty good job on her own. The exclamations from Goldmine as she used Star Dress for the first time was hilarious, and by leaving Aries on one side of the field and using Aries's _Star Dress_ on the other side, they literally swabbed competitors in fluff until they passed out, easily racking in points.

I was also glad to see that _Star Dress_ was nowhere near as revealing as it was in the future, considering Lucy wasn't even in her double digits.

The more competent ones escaped from the fluff, but were picked off by Erigor, who was flying all over the field like a bug.

At the end of the day, the finale was much more like it was originally supposed to be, and Fairy Tail ended up in first place (though the judges seemed to wait a bit to see if the kids would attack the alternate team again).

Following Fairy Tail, over ten points behind, was Phantom Lord. Lamia Scale was only one point behind them, and I felt like laughing at what this was going to do to Phantom's reputation. They're second best, can't work together, and are dicks. Quatro Cerberus were two points behind them, and Blue Pegasus barely had twenty points.

Maybe I should have Makarov talk to Bob…

We said our goodbyes, and promised to drop by in a few days to celebrate Levy's birthday.

* * *

After that, we returned for Levy's seventh birthday where we once again explored the Magic Council's library. I spent time with Enno and Laxus, who were looking into Nab's branch of magic with me so we could see what his difficulty was. We found several techniques and copied them down, and Enno said she'd talk them over with Nab later (you can't check out magical books).

The real surprise, however, was when we returned several days later, for Cana's eighth birthday, who wanted one thing and one thing only; to see Lucy use Urano Metria against her father.

There was some arguing over it, and they decided to wait one more year, so Lucy could have proper control over her magic so she doesn't accidentally kill Gildarts in the process (which wasn't likely, but still possible).

We ended up having another huge silly string/water balloon/paintball fight with Cana's cards, and by the time we were done, the training grounds had never looked so colorful. I was glad we did it outside. And that I was not one cleaning it up.

Laxus and I were covered in more things than our paint fight for the Fantasia parade, and sometime halfway through, after watching them roll around, Macao and Enno disappeared somewhere (probably to do the diddly-doo).

Then Laxus and I went back to the North, settling in and watching Ur teach her students magic.

* * *

"So…" Laxus said, finally bringing something up. "About that guy you want me to bring back to life…"

I snorted and requipped a card, handing it to him. "You see that color?" I pointed to the red glow at the top of the card.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"We can't get him until that turns green," I said. "It means that he's alone. It's going to be hard enough trying to bring him back to life, but we want to do it when there's no one else interfering."

Laxus nodded. "Makes sense."

"Just in case," I continued, "If you send magic through this, it should tell you where he is."

"Why?" he asked.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but things have a tendency of going wrong a lot," I said. "If, for some reason, I'm not there, and you need to get him yourself, this card will help you. You can find the location and use your Lightning Body to go there. Do you know how to restart someone's heart?"

"Do you?" he asked.

"Nope," I said, popping the p. "I was just going to suggest shocking him until you hear his heart beating. With your dragon ears, you should be able to tell. When his heart starts beating, you're good, and you stop."

He gave me a look. "I'm not stupid, you know."

"No, just a tsundere," I said.

He grabbed a lump of snow and lobbed it at me, and I got up and ran. We spent the rest of the day rolling around in the snow like a bunch of goofballs, (this time without cheating).

* * *

I was surprised when Laki's card went off, again, but this time it was her distress signal. I quickly informed Laxus of the situation, and then left.

I popped in to find out what was happening, and found her crying in her room.

"Laki?" I asked her. "What's wrong?"

"It's horrible, Eleanora!" she cried. "My Nana left with the light of the sun!"

Wait…what?

"Your…grandma passed away at dusk?" I asked, counting in my head. That would have been about an hour ago, at most.

Laki nodded, wiping away more tears.

"And…wait, what did you call me?"

"Eleanora," she said.

"No. No way."

"You said 'anything but Eleanor'. Eleanora is not Eleanor."

"It had Eleanor in it. Call me something else."

"Lenore, then."

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!"

"Lenora?"

"NO!"

"Lora?"

"No."

"Lena." (pronounced L-EH-na).

"Really?"

"Lena?" (pronounced L-EE-na).

I paused. "May…be…." While I didn't really like the first way it was said, Lena wasn't that bad.

She whooped, and I tried to remember why I thought it was a good idea to let the kids pick what they wanted to call me.

I couldn't remember. Something had made it seem fun at first...

At least she seemed happier.

"Lena…" Laki began.

Wow, would it be weird responding to that name.

"Yes, Laki?" I asked.

"What do we do now?" she asked, surprisingly solemn. Yes, she just lost her grandmother, but again, hey maturity level seems different from the others.

"Do you have a place to stay?" I asked her. "If not, you can come to the guild, start learning magic there. You'll get free room and board, as well as meals."

She paused a bit. "But…I want to stay with Max…"

"Why don't you take it up with Max, alright?" I asked her. "Do you still have my Call Card?"

She nodded.

"Then call me when you make a decision, alright?"

"Alright."

"And you'll be fine on your own?"

"Yep!"

I nodded. "Alright. If you need help, call me."

I felt horrible leaving her there, but that was what she wanted, so I went back to Laxus.

"Everything okay?" Laxus asked as I reappeared.

"Laxus…" I started, biting my lip. "Am I a good person?"

"Eh, if you forget all the crazy…" Laxus said teasingly. He lost his smile when he saw I was still glum. "Seriously, Elle, what brought this on?"

I flopped onto the snow covered ground, and said, "I try to trick myself into thinking that I was a good person. Like there are good reasons behind it all. But sometimes I just think I'm really selfish."

Laxus hmmed and slid down onto the snow next to me. "I think everyone's a little bit selfish, Elle. And there's not something wrong with that. I think...it's okay to be a little selfish, as long as you aren't hurting others by doing it."

I breathed out. "I came here because I told myself that I wanted to help you guys; to prevent horrible things from happening to you. But…" I trailed off.

Laxus finally lied down next to me. "But what?"

I continued looking up at the stars. "But really, I think the reason I came here was because I would get a family. I knew you guys would accept anyone unconditionally, and I wanted that."

"That doesn't make you a bad person," Laxus said.

I rolled onto my side and looked at him. "I know that, a little bit. I would say the same to anyone else in my situation. Before I left my old world, I found myself reading psychology books in my spare time. One of the books mentioned that the best way for people with PTSD to handle things is by looking at it from someone else's perspective. Like imagining a friend going through the things went through – you know that _they_ don't deserve it, and neither do you. I don't think I have PTSD, but I don't really think I came out of my old life all that clean and healthy, either."

"People need love," Laxus said quietly. "I didn't really realize that until Dad…no, until _Ivan_ got kicked out. I never really got to spend a lot of time with Jiji, and other than him, I didn't really have anyone. Now I have you," he paused. "And you brought in all the other kids. And the difference is…well, I don't think I could have imagined what it's like now beforehand." He laughed. "Well, imagined how it felt." He gave me a look. "I _definitely_ couldn't have imagined you up, that's for sure."

I smiled, and shrugged. "What can I say? I can exceed imaginations."

"Isn't it supposed to be 'expectations'?" Laxus asked.

"Is it?" I asked. "Because all expectations come from imagination."

Well…I guess that depends on how you look at it, but technically, I'm right.

"Thanks, Laxus," I said quietly.

"Yeah, yeah," Laxus muttered, suddenly blushing and looking away.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, stop it you stupid tsundere. There's nothing wrong with sharing a few secret things and weird opinions and ideas with your best friend. It's not like anyone's around to hear us, anyway."

A few hours later, Laki called me to tell me that she would be staying with Max's family. I helped her move her things into her new bedroom, and left her with Max, who seemed determined to take care of her.

* * *

On August 24th, we dropped by the guild to celebrate Evergreen's tenth birthday. I had also dropped by the castle for Hisui's first birthday, and let her crawl through my treasure until she found a jewel she really liked; which just so happened to be her namesake.

While we were there, and Evergreen was having a racing/flying competition with Erigor, Lucy whispered to me that we had missed her mother's birthday earlier that month, and I mentally added it to the calendar.

Watching the two of them fly around reminded me about having to practice my own spells, and I mentally sighed. While I had adapted to Jupiter quite easily, the same could not be said for Uranus, which I was still having trouble with. It was a slow going, and part of the problem was that I couldn't make ice appear easily on its own. I could do _Uranus's Blizzard_ , but that was all. The others still evaded me.

Mercury was even harder, and I started to put off practicing it altogether. With the exception of tinkering with a bunch of scrap metal I found, I did nothing else with Mercury, because I couldn't form it at all. That was mostly to practice control, because if I was ever fighting in a junkyard, it could come in handy.

I didn't mention it to Laxus, but his theory about producing magic was wrong, because after trying, I was able to form soil in my hands on my own - which means I could conjure it just fine.

So that was still a bit of a mystery.

* * *

We returned to the guild a few days later for Enno's twenty first birthday. Not much happened, other than Enno and Macao officially announcing that they were together. There was a lot of shouting at that, both from Enno's many admires and also from everyone else who was waiting for the two of them to get on with it.

And then it was _September_ , and I was nowhere closer to learning Uranus or Mercury than when I started.

Okay, that's a little of an exaggeration, but I was still having extreme difficulty with them!

It was driving me nuts!

And then came the day I was dreading.

* * *

 **Can you tell my anxiety and depression are acting up?**

 **Also, since I'm a tease, and I left you with this cliffy, I'll leave you with the next title chapter, too. XD**

 **Chapter Forty Nine - Deliora.**


	49. Deliora

**I hope I do not disappoint. I must have rewritten it twenty or so times!**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Chapter Forty Nine - Deliora**

Two cards went off at once.

I've had this problem before; with Laki and Max.

But I learned from that problem, and checked what was wrong with the cards.

And this is where the real problem was.

The first card that went off was Ultear's card, and she was sending her emergency flare through it – which meant Gray had probably decided it was time to go after Deliora.

The problem with that, of course, was that we didn't have Silver.

And then Silver's monitoring card went off. He was alone (fucking _finally_ ).

I didn't realize I had started hyperventilating until Laxus shocked me. It surprised me that he did it again, after last time.

"Elle, get your head in the game!" he shouted. "What's the plan?"

I slowed my breathing, and took off my cuffs. Unlike last time, my magic flared to life, eager to help me. Alright, that was a good sign. Maybe luck was on our side today. "Right. Game. Plan. What's the plan?"

I started pacing. "What's the plan what's the plan what'stheplan whatstheplanwhatstheplan-"

I stopped. "Alright, here's what we're going to do."

Laxus nodded, paying close attention.

"You will use this card-" I gave him Silver's, "-in order to find the person linked with it. Then you'll shock him, and restart his heart. Understood?"

He nodded. "Then what?"

I handed him one more card. "Use this to find me, and then come to me and bring him with you. I'll stall as long as possible."

He froze, his hand hovering over the last card. "Stall?"

I nodded. "We _need_ to do this, Laxus, or else we'll fail. We're going up against a demon, remember?"

He gave me a long look in, staring into my eyes, before he pulled the card from my hand and embraced me.

"Be safe," he whispered.

And then, in a flash, he was gone.

* * *

It seemed wrong to fight a demon during the day.

I gripped Ultear's card, and teleported to her side. By now, the other three cards with her were sending off their own crazy signals, and it's thanks to the cards that I understood what was happening and was able to stop it in time.

"I will seal away your darkness, Gray. _Iced She-"_

I punched Ur Milkovich in the face.

She hit the ground, and the surprise of a woman appearing out of nowhere to punch its opponent in the face was enough to stun Deliora long enough for me to get a type of _Venus's Reflective Shield_ up around him.

My magic sprung to attention, locking him inside a dome, almost effortlessly, and while it seemed oddly suspicious, I accepted it and turned back to the situation at hand, watching Deliora test the shield.

He banged on the barrier, only to find it held up. Roaring did nothing but send his beam back at him, and he seemed hesitant to try that again. Spreading my arms wider to help keep the constant flow of energy, I kept my back to Deliora and faced the Ice Contingent. I knew that Ultear, or at least _someone_ would warn me if something was wrong with my shield.

Plus, with how my magic was today, I'd probably sense it first.

"What…why would you-" Ur started.

I glared at her. "You have three children all looking up to you, don't you dare do this!"

In addition to that, it seemed she still had her leg this time around, which was convenient.

"But-" she started.

"I understand wanting to go out in a noble way, I really do," I said.

 _It's better than a car crash, at least_.

"But I also know that there's a better way to do this, one in which we all survive. So I can't let you do that."

"I-" she started.

"Listen to her, Mama!" Ultear said, breaking free of the spell of the kids seemed to be under. Not surprising, considering that they just saw their mother/mentor about to commit suicide. She seemed to snap the boys out of it, and they turned to see her with the rest of us. "This is _Nee-san_! I trust her, she knows what to do!"

"Ultear, don't be irrational-" Ur began.

"I'm not being irrational!" Ultear yelled, before calming down. "Mama, please. I promise you, she knew things she shouldn't."

"It's true, I know a lot of things I shouldn't," I said, agreeing. My magic surged in agreement, and I was once again, slightly scared by the sentience my magic seemed to be showing.

But this was so not the time, so I put it out of my mind.

There was a flash of light, and Laxus appeared behind me, leaving Silver lying on the ground. "Elle, we've got a problem. He's in a coma."

I froze before shouting, "What the hell do you mean, 'he's in a coma'?"

"I mean _he's in a fucking coma_ , how could I be any clearer?" Laxus asked.

I switched Venus over to the cards (I know Porlyusica said not to use them, but it was kinda an emergency) and I knelt down and started shaking Silver's unconscious body. "Wake up, dammit! Now is not the time for a nap, you need to wake the fuck up!"

" _This_ is your Nee-san?" Lyon deadpanned.

"Is that my dad?" Gray asked.

We ignored them. "Elle, I already told you, he's in a coma!" Laxus yelled.

"FUCK!" I yelled.

A roar rang through the city, and Laxus spun around to finally acknowledge the demon being held back by my cards and power alone.

"The _hell_ is _that_?" Laxus asked.

"That," I began, "is a stars-be-damned, motherfucking, gigantic-ass _demon_."

I slapped Silver in the face. "And _you_ need to fucking wake up so you can kill it!"

" _Please_ tell me you had a Plan B!" Laxus shouted.

"This already _was_ Plan B!" I shrieked, slapping Silver again. "Do you really think I'd be smacking him so much if I had another plan?"

"Honestly?" Laxus asked. "Yeah. Definitely seems like something you'd do."

"Seriously," Gray said. "Is that my dad? Because I remember him dying."

We, once again, ignored him.

I dropped Silver's body, trying to think. "I just…fuck! I wish Lucy was here."

"Lucy?" Laxus asked. " _Lucy_? What about GILDARTS?"

"I don't know what would happen if Gildarts went up against a demon!" I shouted. "For all I know, it might just split Deliora into a bunch of tiny, human-sized Delioras, and I would honestly prefer this one! Lucy has the purest type of magic out there, and if she used Gemini, and they were both wearing a Gemini Star Dress, she could potentially _quadruple_ her own power and use _Urano Metria_."

Laxus paled. "Remind me to never piss her off."

I started to pace. "I _may_ have another plan. It's fucking INSANE though."

It was insane. For all I knew, I could be getting fictional universes confused.

Damn fanfiction. Damn myself for reading so much of it.

Damn Mashima, too, for being such a pain in my ass.

"Ultear," I turned to her. "I need your help."

"What do you need, Nee-san?" she asked.

"Do you know what Arc of Time is?" I asked.

She hesitated. "They mentioned it a few times at the Bureau, but I'm not quite sure what it is."

 _That's right, she didn't really know until she met Master Hades._

"Then you need to meditate. Now," I commanded. "You have two sets of specialized magic, and you're going to need to use the second one, even if you haven't used it before. Think you can do that?"

She nodded grimly. "I can try."

"Good," I said. I turned to Ur. "Ur, what do you know about magical transfers?"

"Not much," she said. "Why?"

"Do you know if you can _force_ a magical transfer?" I asked.

"I'm almost positive the answer is no," Laxus said.

"I think he's right," Ur admitted.

"Don't care," I said. "Gonna try anyway."

I turned to the youngest of us. "Gray, grab your father's arm."

He jerked. "Oh, so now you want to talk to me." He paused, contemplating. "You mean…it's really my father?"

I nodded. "Yeah, he didn't die completely, and he's fully alive now, just…" I kicked Silver, "…asleep."

The boys sweatdropped.

"Please stop hitting my dad," Gray said.

Ultear began glowing a bright, acid green color, and she shouted in triumph. "I got it, Nee-san! Now what?"

"Gray!" I gestured to his father, and with his right arm, Gray grabbed Silver's – the one with the devil slayer tattoo.

"Ultear, we're going to force a magical transfer," I said.

"Is that possible?" she asked.

"Under normal circumstances, I don't think so, but I think we'll be able to pull it off," I said. "You see, I know for a fact that in the future, Silver will transfer his powers over to Gray. Since you now control Arc of Time, you're going to use that to search into the future and activate the transfer early."

Ultear couldn't control living things, which is why this was a bit difficult. However, I know she could manipulate plant life. So, if she searches for the magic, and _only the magic_ , and brings it back from the future, it could actually work.

You know, maybe.

"You really think I can do that?" she asked, awed.

A sudden banging from Deliora brought her back to reality, and the cards holding up the shield _snapped_.

I flung my arms out again as the shield flickered, but this time my magic seemed fickle; it supported the shield, but it didn't feel right.

"You _have_ to," I said, straining. "I know...you can do it."

There was more banging on the shield between us, and I gasped as a felt a large bruise form on my back. Another pound sent another wave of agony across my back, and I bit my lips and prayed that he wouldn't use his beam on the shield.

Before I didn't feel a thing, but now it seemed as if the shield was connected to my body. Something had changed.

Ultear nodded, though frightened, and followed my instructions, concentrating over the grasped arms.

I turned to Lyon and Ur, still straining and trying to not pay attention to the pain surfacing on my body as Deliora hit the shield a second time. "We're going to take down Deliora, and here's part of the plan. You ready?"

They nodded, listening attentively.

"You guys are going to need to freeze Deliora's jaw shut," I said. "That way he can't roar. I'm sure that eventually he'll be fine with roaring anyway, even if it means destroying his jaw, but that beam he shoots causes the most amount of damage. Stopping him from roaring and firing it will be the first way to beat him."

They nodded, and I turned to Laxus, who was watching Ultear, Silver and Gray curiously. "Laxus, I'm going to need you to activate your lightning form and fly around to Deliora's back. Over there, you'll need to send the strongest thing you can manage straight at his spine." I tapped at my lower back, so he could see, my arms still shaking.

Another bang formed another bruise on my back, and I had the feeling that I would be sleeping on my stomach for awhile.

There was a gasp from Gray as the devil slaying symbol appeared on his arm. "I can _feel_ it," he said. "It's…it's really cold. Kinda hurts."

 _So cold it burns, eh?_

I shook off the thought and looked at them. "Alright guys, I don't think that it will last very long, so here's what we're going to do. Ultear, I want you to weaken Deliora's joints. Speed it so far forward in time that they will collapse in on itself."

Now that the magical transfer had actually happened, I was a bit worried about this part. Could Deliora even be weakened by sending him through time like that? I don't think he fit the 'living' standards, though, so maybe it would work.

"We'll…" she said quietly. "I'm…kinda low on magical power."

"Don't sweat it," I said, straining to requip out a shit-ton of cards. My magical strength was fine, but with how it was acting, I didn't want to move much in order to keep the shield stabilized. I sent them in Ultear's direction and they landed in the snow in front of her. "You start running low, use the magic from these. It should help keep you running."

And would hopefully be enough to send his joints a few hundred years through time.

She nodded.

Deliora pounded on the barrier and a painful hit crashed into my lower back, sending shock waves through my legs.

I took a deep breath, trying to breathe out the pain and turned to Gray, tossing a bunch of cards in his direction, too. "I highly doubt that this new magic will last long, but it's called _Devil Slaying Magic_. Now, all slayers have a breath attack. A dragon slayer has a _Roar_ , a god slayer has a _Bellow_ , and a devil slayer has a _Rage_. So you're going to cast a rage directly where Deliora's heart should be."

He hesitated. "How?"

"Gather this new magic into your mouth and let it build. Focus all your magical power on it," I said. "And use the cards to make it stronger."

"Is everyone ready?" I asked, still straining.

They all nodded.

"On three, I'm going to let down the shield, and use a type of Earth Magic to keep Deliora in place. I doubt it will hold him long, so we all have to move the second it happens."

They all nodded.

"One."

My arms strained, and Laxus flickered with lightning. Gray's magic began to build, and Ultear seemed to be in a mix between meditating and getting ready to cast magic.

"Two."

Lyon and Ur nodded at each other, and Deliora seemed to realize that something was going on. Watching him from over my shoulder, I watched as he raised his arm to hit the shield one last time.

Five hits were enough, thank you very much.

"Three."

I spun around and dropped the shield, putting as much magic into _Arms of the Earth_ that I could. Thousands of vines, some larger than me, sprouted out of the ground, shooting towards the sky and wrapping around Deliora, pinning him down.

Lyon froze Deliora's mouth shut, stopping it from roaring, and Ur layered over it and froze around Deliora's head, blinding and deafening it, too.

Ultear was glowing an acid green color, and clutching all of the cards I had given her. She began to shake, and it seemed as if Deliora was shaking in tandem with her, even beginning to glow the same color.

Laxus had disappeared in a flash, and a large lightning strike hit Deliora's lower back, crippling him with the help of Ultear's magic.

And Gray opened his mouth, and I realized too late that I hadn't told him the full incantation, but it didn't matter. He shouted, " _Ice Devil's Rage_!" and an inferno of ice escaped from his mouth and went straight through Deliora's heart, leaving nothing but a large hole behind.

Time seemed to stop, and then Deliora collapsed, with the only thing holding him up being the vines from my spell.

I stopped the spell and I collapsed onto my knees, exhausted.

The vines vanished, and Deliora fell to the ground, dead.

"We did it…" Ultear breathed.

Gray seemed thrilled. "I defeated Deliora! I really did it! A demon from the Books of Zeref-"

Laxus punched him, and Gray hit the ground. At our looks, he shrugged. "What? He was pissing me off."

That's right, I forgot how annoying Gray could be as a kid. The reason he ran off was because he thought he could take Deliora out on his own.

Ugh. And 'defeating' Deliora was probably only going to make it worse.

There was a groan from the right. "What…happened?"

I turned my shocked eyes over to see Silver Fullbuster sitting up, rubbing his head.

"Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me," I said. " _Now_ you wake up?"

He looked around, taking in the group of us, Deliora's dead body (which had smoke coming off of it), and Gray, who was sitting up and rubbing his head in a manner similar to his fathers.

"Gray?" he asked.

"Dad?" Gray asked.

And then there was much shouting and blubbering and I tuned it out and shifted on the ground, kicking my legs out and leaning back onto my hands.

"Now what, Nee-san?" Ultear asked, coming up next to me.

I looked at her. "How do you feel about joining a guild?"

She blinked. "Are you a member?"

I nodded.

She spun around. "Mama, we're going to join a guild!"

Ur looked away from Deliora, which she had been staring at for the past several minutes. "What?"

"I want to join Nee-san's guild!" Ultear said. "Please, please Mama!"

"My guild is also in a much warmer place," I said. "And it will be a good place to practice magic, since they'll be unused to a warmer environment."

 _Please please please please_ , I thought.

Because if they didn't join after everything we just did, I was going to blow a gasket.

I don't even know what that means.

But it sounds like explosions, so I'm using it.

I'd also try to beat the shit out of someone.

Probably Silver, for being a dick during the fight.

Ur sighed. "Ultear, you…really want to join?"

Ultear nodded frantically.

 _PLEASE!_

"Fine," Ur said, sighing. "We'll finish up the year here, training, and then we'll move to the guild. Alright?"

"Us too?" Lyon asked.

Ur hugged him. "You're always welcome with me, you know that, right?"

Lyon nodded, and I realized that I had no clue what happened to his family.

Gray and Silver had finished blubbering in the corner, and had joined the rest of us. "What now?" Gray asked, staring at Deliora's body.

Suddenly Ur gasped, and hugged both Laxus and I. "What were you kids thinking! Going after Deliora like that!"

"Hey, it worked out in the end, right?" I said, having trouble breathing. Her tight hug was bothering my back.

"Elle?" Laxus asked.

"I'll be fine," I said, before quietly whispering, " _later_ ," under my breath, so Laxus would let it go for now.

Ur let go of us and continued to lecture us, but eventually stopped when she realized it wasn't doing any good.

She sighed, and the group of us fell to the ground, all just relaxing in the snow.

I began to giggle, and turned to the person lying next to me. "Hey, Laxus?"

"Yeah?" he asked. I sat up.

"How about we leave a gift for the magic council?" I asked, jerking my head at Deliora.

His jaw dropped. "No way. You're serious?"

Now, I'm pretty sure that Deliora was out of the Magic Council's jurisdiction (we weren't exactly in Fiore, after all), but I didn't care.

I nodded to Laxus's question and got up, climbing onto Deliora's body, starting up Mars. Carefully, using the hole Gray made as a base, I burned the Fairy Tail symbol into Deliora's body (which only worked when Silver came up and froze the holes after I made them) and requipped a very large tarp.

"What's that for?" Laxus asked.

"You'll see," I said. I got down and began to write out, in large, block letters, YOU'RE FUCKING WELCOME - FAIRY TAIL. I also drew out the guild's symbol next to the signature.

Laxus began laughing, and the others started snickering, too.

"Alright, guys," I said, requipping out some coloring utensils. "Help me color this in, and tomorrow morning, the Council is going to wake up with a large, dead demon on their lawn, and this tarp hanging over it."

Laxus was full blown laughing now, and he knelt beside me to help me decorate the tarp. "Man, I wish I could see their faces!"

"I've got a few recording lacrimas I'll leave behind," I said. "And I'll also see if I can get Yajima to put his memory in one of Cana's Cards."

I'll probably wait a bit before I teleport Deliora, so my magic can replenish. I still haven't put the cuffs back on yet, because my container was nearly empty. It seemed easy to use all of the magic in the heat of the moment - it seemed almost as if it was endless. But now that it was done, I realized there was barely any left. The moment I had finished with Mars, it seemed my endless supply just sort of vanished.

Generally, I'm pretty sure people are able to tell when they're getting low on their magic - it's a part of the body's system. Like with fire. If you start to burn yourself, you feel pain, so you know to stop.

There should be some sort of warning that I was depleting my energy, (and I've even felt it before) but there was nothing.

I mentally put it on a list for Porlyusica. I'm sure she would know what to do.

"Do you do this a lot in your guild?" Lyon asked, looking at the tarp, and bringing me back to the present.

"Sort of," Laxus said, snorting.

"It sounds kinda fun," Gray said, a wistful look on his face.

"Hey, we'll be joining at the end of your training, remember?" Silver said, nudging his son.

Gray smiled up at him.

I realized that with the exception of fooling around with Natsu and the others, and fighting, Gray rarely ever smiled.

 _Maybe that's one thing I'll be able to change_ , I thought to myself as the others joined us around the tarp and started decorating.

* * *

 **Gaskets, by the way, are part of an engine.**

 **I used to think the expression was 'blow a casket' though, and so was very confused as a child.**

 **Also... Some reassurance that you all still like this story after the chapter would be nice. My anxiety is kinda acting up.**


	50. Hair

**Sorry for a bit of a delayed update, but this chapter is longer than usual.**

 **Also; angst alert!**

* * *

 **Chapter Fifty - Hair**

Yajima bit his lip to stop himself from laughing.

In all his time on the magic council - which was a good decade or so - he had never, _ever_ seen Gran Doma or Org swear, and whatever Makie's brats had done now had brought it to a new level.

He knew that it had to be the girl, Elle. She was the only one who would know enough to pull this off (not to mention do something like this).

"-those damn Fairy fucks-"

Alright, so maybe he was better off tuning them out. After all, even though he was retired, he was still a Fairy, and if he paid too much attention he was going to start getting severely offended.

"I don't understand why you are all so upset!" Belno said. "The country of Seven has continually asked for our help in this matter! It has been taken care of now, we should be thanking them!"

While the Magic Council was centered in Fiore, they also watched over the Ten Wizard Saints - and the top four were known as the 'Gods of Ishgar' because they were measured as the strongest among the entire continent.

"You're missing the point!" Michello yelled angrily. "They're purposely showing off, saying that they can do their job better than we can!"

 _That's because they can_ , Yajima thought to himself.

"Nevertheless, we have to award them a monetary amount," Belno said.

"What? _Why_?" Michello whined.

"Because there is a reporter hovering in our midst and if we do nothing it will make this situation even worse," Gran Doma growled.

"Woah, this is SOOOOOOOO AWEEEEEESOOOOOOOOME! _"_ Jacob shouted, trying to climb up on Deliora's dead body. "Fairy Tail RUUUUUUUUULEEEEEEEES!"

"Someone get the civilian _off the dead demon,"_ Org commanded, frustrated, and a series of Rune Knights went over to Deliora to pull Jacob off of it.

Jacob bounded over to the Magical Council and snapped a few pictures, blinding them all. "What is the Magical Council's response to this?" he asked, eagerly.

Gran Doma growled but was interrupted by Yajima. "Fairy Tail will be awarded a monetary sum for defeating Deliora, as this was actually classified as an SSS Class mission."

"Woah!" Jacob gasped. "What's that? I didn't think SSS was a classification..."

"It's not," Belno said. "It's generally something classified as extremely difficult, where there should be a team of several SS Class wizards banding together, perhaps with a Ten Wizard Saint included. These missions only actually surface a few times a decade, and are generally not well known because of the difficult requirements the mages need to match up with."

"And how many Jewels is Fairy Tail gonna get?" Jacob asked.

"That's classified," Org said heavily, and slightly menacing.

"Fairy Tail is SOOOOOOOOO AWEEEEEEESOOOOOOOOME! They totally deserve it!" Jacob yelled, before bounding away to take a few more pictures of Deliora.

"If you'll excuse me," Gran Doma said angrily. "I need to go write Makarov a letter."

As the council dispersed, Belno moved up next to Yajima. "It's a good thing that Crawford is out of town," she said quietly. "Who knows what he would have done."

Yajima sighed. "I should probably give Makarov a lacrima call. He'd probably like some warning."

* * *

Ur had freaked when she learned we didn't have a place to stay, and though Laxus and I convinced her that we like our tent just fine, we were still coerced into setting it up near her cabin. She also invited Silver to crash at her place, and he accepted.

Oddly enough, they didn't have beds, and instead slept on the floor on mats. Luckily, I had extra fluff, and gave it to them so they'd be more comfortable.

The previous night, after eating dinner, Laxus and I camped out under the stars, with a giant dead demon body in the woods not too far away.

"Are you okay, Elle?" Laxus asked.

"I'm fine," I said. "A little bruised up, but that's all."

It was odd, the way how every hit he made on the shield ended up bruising on my body. I couldn't help wonder what Deliora had done.

Maybe Corvus would know. He seems to know a lot of things I don't.

Jerk.

"Are you sure?" Laxus asked.

I nodded, requipping out some potions that Porlyusica had turned into lotion. The so called 'bruise paste' helped speed up healing when put on bruises, and I laid down so Laxus could get the parts on my back I couldn't reach, moving my bathing suit out of the way.

I didn't even realize I was in my bathing suit the whole time we fought Deliora.

Which totally makes it less cool. Even Ur was wearing more clothes than me.

"Hey, Laxus?" I asked as he finished up.

"Hmm?" he asked.

"How did you know Silver was in a coma?" I asked.

"Oh? It was what that guy said," he said dismissively.

"What guy?" I asked, jerking to attention.

Silver was supposed to be alone.

"After I shocked him and he wouldn't wake up, this weird skeleton guy came out and said he was in a magical coma. The way he moved kinda reminded me of Juvia…"

Keyes.

I gripped his arms tightly (which didn't really work because of his size). "He let you go. Just like that?"

"Yeah…" Laxus looked puzzled.

I threw my arms around him and hugged him.

"Elle?" he asked.

"Just shut up and hug me," I said quietly.

Gently, he wrapped his arms around me, and though he bothered my bruises I didn't really care.

"Elle?"

"What?" I asked, not letting go of him.

"Who was he?"

I let out a sharp exhale. "That was that guy that brought Silver back to life. He's another demon from the Books of Zeref."

Laxus stiffened a bit, seeming to realize the danger he had been in. "Oh."

"Yeah," I whispered.

Awhile later, before dawn, I left and put a nice, big present on the magic council's doorsteps. I also hid several recording lacrimas around it from different locations, in order to get a good view of the spectacle.

I was still giggling when I got back. This was gonna be huge, and hilarious. I hoped that Jason – no, that _Jacob_ – was all over it.

At that thought, I left him a message on his desk telling him to go there.

* * *

After a few days with them, it was clear to me that the Ice Brigade all had some issues of their own.

Which wasn't really surprising, considering.

Ultear was still recovering from the Bureau. Silver seemed to be in some sort of daze, though, he did lose his entire family to Deliora, was brought back to life by a demon, trained by another demon, and then magically woke up alive again next to his presumed-dead son. Gray seemed to be the happiest, and extremely carefree. There was still a bit of a shadow looming over him, but it was nowhere like it had been before.

Ur seemed to be evaluating her life, which wasn't surprising considering she technically tried to kill herself.

And Lyon? Well, Lyon seemed troubled in more than a few ways.

* * *

"You're being stupid, you know," I told him.

He jumped, before turning to look at me from where he sat in the snow. "What the hell?"

"You're being stupid," I repeated.

He got up from where he sat and faced me. "What do _you_ know?"

"You should join them," I said. To celebrate the defeat of Deliora, Ur had given everyone the week off and the rest of the Ice Brigade were playing in the snow.

Lyon didn't move, before quietly saying, "They look like a family," subconsciously tugging on his silver hair.

I turned back to the scene, watching the four of them trying to build a snowman.

"Maybe," I agreed. "But one, even though they'd make a cute couple, you have no clue if Ur and Silver will even get together..."

Though I hope they do. I ship it.

"But more than that," I continued. "If this is about your hair, when Ur and Silver get old, their hair will get white, and then they'll match _you_."

Because with the exception of Lyon, all of them had dark hair, and that was what was obviously bothering him.

He began to smile, "Thanks, Elle," and skipped along to join the rest of them.

* * *

Ur insisted on mothering both me and Laxus, and was unfortunately taking it pretty seriously. Which meant-

"But I don't _like_ salad," I said.

Ur glared at me. "But you need vegetables!"

"I already eat plenty of veggies!" I said. "But I don't like _salad_."

"Well, have you tried dressing or lemon juice?" Ur suggested.

"I don't like dressing, and I _hate_ lemons."

"But-"

"The only thing lemons are good for is dying hair," I interrupted. "Lemon juice can lighten hair if it's in the sun. That is, quite literally, the only good thing about lemons."

There was more arguing, but eventually, Ur gave up, because she wasn't actually my mother.

Of course, this lead to another problem...

* * *

"What did you do, Ultear?" Ur sighed.

"I wanted to look more like Nee-san, so I used lemon juice to lighten my hair!" Ultear said happily.

Oh.

Ultear's hair was actually purple, but much _much_ darker than mine (you can actually tell my hair is a deep purple color). Ultear wanted lighter hair like mine though, and so dunk all her hair in lemon juice and waited outside in the sun.

Except now her hair was a lavender color.

Even though I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to work like that.

"Have you looked in a mirror, yet?" Gray asked. Ultear's hair was still short enough that it wasn't really in her face.

"No," Ultear said. "Why?"

"You don't look like Elle, that's for sure," Lyon snorted.

"Lyon, don't be rude to your sister!" Ur scolded.

I sighed. "I have a friend who can fix it. Come on, Ultear."

I have no idea how that happened - considering that it _wasn't supposed to work like that_ , but it was an alternate universe, so...

Fuck you, Mashima.

* * *

We ended up visiting Lucy, who was extremely happy to get to see me for absolutely no real reason.

"Ellie-nee!" Lucy yelled excitedly, before jumping on me.

Ultear managed to top me from falling (which was good, because my back still sort of hurt), and I put Lucy down, hugging her. "Hey, sweetheart. Listen, we need your help."

"Okay!" Lucy said happily. "What do you need?"

"This is Ultear," I said, gesturing to Ultear, by my side. "We need to fix her hair."

Lucy nodded and summoned Cancer, who immediately reset Ultear's hair.

"But I want it to look more like your's, Nee-san!" Ultear complained.

I sighed. "We want it to look like your mom's, Ultear."

As she opened her mouth to complain again, I cut her off. "How about a compromise, alright? Cancer can put streaks in your hair my color. How about that?"

Ultear brightened and agreed, and also had Cancer grow her hair out a little more so it was longer, and looked like mine - except mine was wavy and I didn't have bangs.

"What about yours, ebi?" Cancer asked.

"Hmm?" I asked. "What about mine?"

"I want to make it longer," he said. "And maybe add some bangs-"

"No bangs."

He pouted. "Can I make it longer, ebi?"

I shrugged. "Alright."

Cancer grew it out a lot and cut it into layers, making my curls pop up a bit more. It also made me look a bit older - around Laxus's age. With the growth sprout I'd get in two years, I'd look old enough to pass for a teen - like I had in my other life.

We thanked Cancer and said goodbye to Lucy before returning to the North, where Ur was much happier with Ultear's hair.

Laxus noticed mine. "Cancer did yours, too?"

I nodded.

He held up a lock of hair, and smiled. "I like it."

* * *

Laxus and I went back to the guild a few days later on the 8th, in order to celebrate Macao's birthday, in which we weren't really _able_ to celebrate because Master was busy yelling and crying at us because of the 'Deliora Incident'.

Everyone else was busy laughing, though.

It also turns out that they awarded a large sum to Fairy Tail, and when Makarov asked what to do with it I had him put it aside so Ur and the others could easily buy a place when they got there.

We spent most of the time watching what I had gotten off the recording lacrimas, and reviewing Yajima's memory of the council's reaction.

Though, by the end of it, when we left, I could only imagine the type of trouble that everyone was going to get into. More than a few people were offended by some of the things the council spewed, and I had a feeling they were all going to go around 'doing the council's job's for them' for awhile.

* * *

Training started back up again, and I joined the other kids as Ur taught them Maker Magic. Silver was being taught by Laxus on how to be a Slayer, though they sometimes switched so Laxus could be taught by someone who was taught by the real thing. Gray's tattoo had vanished once Silver woke up, and it seemed he couldn't get it back anytime soon. Ur also mentioned that we shouldn't do the magical transfer again, as he probably wouldn't be able to handle it – he'd have to build it up. It was amazing he hadn't gone into shock.

"Why don't we just go to the guy who trained him and turn them all into Devil Slayers?" Laxus had asked.

I had wanted to punch myself for not thinking of it, but Silver beat me to the punch. "Because he's dead."

"What?" Ur asked.

"Keyes – the demon who brought me back to life…he knew that I wanted to destroy demons, and in order to do that I had to be a devil slayer. He knew an ice devil who wanted to die and sent me to him to get trained. His name was Zelroth, and he died by my hand, at his own request. He is gone, now."

I couldn't help wondering if that was why Silver's card had gone off – because he had finally killed the demon that was his sensei.

* * *

Later that night, when everyone else was asleep, Laxus asked me something. "Why don't you depend on us more?"

I sat up. "What? What are you talking about?"

"You don't really…include us, Elle. If you told us some more about the timeline…I dunno, I just feel kinda left out."

He looked away.

There was silence in the tent, before I whispered, "I'm sorry."

He looked back at me.

"It's just…I'm trying, dammit, I am!" I shouted, already in tears. Fuck, I was crying again. "Last time…in my last life I WAS ALONE. I was depending on myself, and I was the _only_ one I could depend on. I don't know what I'm doing! I'm trying! That's why I _told_ Master I was from the future – I didn't want to be alone here and I'm trying to include you guys but _I don't know how_."

I broke down, whispering, "I'm trying."

Laxus wrapped his arms around me, and wiped away the tears that escaped. "It's okay, Elle. I'm here now, and you're not alone anymore."

I swallowed, and took a deep breath, trying to recompose myself. "Laxus, you know I was older in my other life, right?"

"Yeah," he said quietly. "I kinda figured, with the psychology stuff. Usually eleven year olds don't know so much."

I nodded. "I was abandoned at an orphanage. A doorstep, actually. I mean…yeah, I know it's like the 'classic thing', but who the fuck leaves a baby on a doorstep? What if they didn't see me and stepped on me? What if I got sick…I mean, it was May, but it rained a lot, so I might have gotten pneumonia or something. What if I rolled away and got hit by a car?"

Laxus ran his fingers through my hair, and I took a deep breath, calming down.

"It was a lonely place, at the orphanage," I said quietly. "Every man for themselves. I never got to play with children, or have 'siblings' or 'parents'. I never had anyone to confide in. When I got tall enough, I decided to leave; I ran away, pretending to be older than I was, and got a job. I worked at that job until I was nineteen."

"Then what?" Laxus asked.

I leaned into him some more, and my voice came out muffled. "Then I died."

His arms tightened around me, and I put a hand on one. "It's not a bad thing, Laxus. Dying that day was the best thing that ever happened to me."

I leaned back and smiled at him. "Now I have a family. And, yeah…I'm having trouble, but…"

"I think you're doing a good job," Laxus said quietly. "The kids all look up to you, and love you a lot. They follow you like ducklings."

I smiled, tears in my eyes once more. "I know…and it's the most amazing feeling. Not being alone."

Laxus leaned in and looked me in the eyes. "Listen, we'll stay by each other sides, alright? So you don't know how to do some things, so what? You can learn. And I'll be here to help you, we all will. You won't be alone again. Neither of us will be."

"You promise?" I sniffled. "You'll always be by my side?"

He smiled. "If you promise to stay by mine."

I nodded, and smiled, though my eyes were once again full of tears – but they were happy tears. "Alright then, it's decided. Side by side."

Laxus nodded. "Side by side. Now that you've got me, you're not getting rid of me."

The crying settled down and we both lay back down on our fluff. "Thank you, you stupid tsundere."

"I'm not a-"

"Yes, you are," I said. "But you're _my_ tsundere, so shut up."

He blushed and looked away. "Fine."

And we settled in to sleep.

* * *

"Elle, you need to stop thinking so much," Ur instructed.

The other kids looked at me, and I looked at her. She continued, "There is logic to magic, it's true, but you need to ignore the science behind it and focus on the element. Close off your emotions, and _focus_."

The thing about ice magic was that I could do it now, but I had to be in a different frame of mind. The only way for me to get a grip on ice magic was focusing on the cold loneliness from my previous life - to turn into an emotionless being.

I was able to get a hand on the Uranus spells now, and though I had trouble with them most of the time, when I really _fell_ back into my old persona - my previous life - it became much much easier.

The same worked for Mercury, cutting myself off from my emotions and locking them away.

Of all my magic, however, those two were still the most difficult, and I mostly worked on being able to access them without shutting myself down.

The rest of September passed easily enough, and we returned again for Freed's tenth birthday on the 30st, where we went to the magical library (where the Magic Council had to let us in because of all the wonderful things Fairy Tail had done in the last month). At that time, I abandoned the Magical section, and searched the regular section in the library (which you actually could check out), going through psychology books. There wasn't a very big selection, but I decided to see if I could learn more than the bit I know.

People in the Fairy Tail universe aren't always the healthiest (mentally), and I want to see if I can help them.

Though that's probably a little hypocritical of me...

Ur agreed to move to Magnolia in early November. Unfortunately, that meant that we would miss the Fantasia Parade, but they told us a lot about it when we returned for Bickslow's birthday on the 23rd.

They used the Argo instead of building a float.

Fucking cheaters.

* * *

"Nee-san?" came a whisper. "Can I talk to you?"

I opened my eyes, rubbing away the sleep from them. "Ultear?"

"Yeah," she whispered.

"Alright, I'm coming," I said, pulling myself from Laxus's arms (he's such a cuddler) and exiting the tent.

Though I suspected that he was awake and was using his dragon hearing to eavesdrop.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

She hesitated, fidgeting. "Was...was I evil? Once?"

I blinked at her, confused. "What?"

"You know about the previous timeline, right?" she asked. "I heard you talking with Laxus about it."

I nodded. "Yeah, what of it?"

She looked down. "Ever since you interfered - since you saved me - I've been having some flashes. But after the thing with Deliora, and I woke up my magic properly...I saw all of it. The last timeline. In my dreams."

I hugged her. "You weren't evil, Ultear. You made some bad decisions, and you were confused, but if you saw the other timeline you know how that changed."

She nodded slowly.

I let her go and looked her in the eyes. "Also, you must promise to never _ever_ use that spell. The one you used during the dragons."

"But..."

"No," I interrupted. "Absolutely not. Do you promise?"

She paused, before nodding. "I promise."

"Good," I said, hugging her. "Remember that that was only a possibility. It's not going to happen now, alright?"

She smiled up at me. "Alright," she said. "Goodnight, Nee-san!"

She left and I crawled back into the tent, where Laxus curled his arms around me.

Another person remembered the first timeline. Would anyone else?

* * *

It was odd, leaving the North. I think it was the oddest for Ur and Silver, though. The kids had all traveled at some point, and seemed used to it by now. Ur and Silver, however, had lived up there their whole lives.

They spent their first day in Magnolia house hunting. Ur invited Silver to move in with them, so he could stay close to Gray, who insisted he continue living with Ur (probably because he nearly watched Ur kill herself for him).

After half a day of searching, they found a house for a steal, and bought it. They spent the rest of the day moving their stuff around as I requipped it out of my storage space for them.

We bid them adieu, and (after pointing out where the guild was while we were searching through town) told them that we'd meet them there the next morning, so they could join the guild and get their emblems.

"Hey, we're back!" I yelled, kicking in the doors.

"Seriously, you have a problem," Laxus muttered, eyeing the footprint my boot left.

I could stop kicking in doors, but honestly – it was fun. And it kinda messed with Laxus.

There were multiple shouts of our names, as well as a multitude of tiny bodies that crashed into us.

"Are you back for real, this time?" Makarov asked.

I shook off the kids after hugging them and turned to him. "Yeah. Our new members will be dropping by tomorrow for their stamps."

"Oh?" Gildarts asked. "How many new members will we have?"

"Five," I answered.

"How many of them joined in the original timeline?" Freed asked.

Everyone was really paying attention, now. "One," I answered.

"Where did the other ones go, Elle-chan?" Levy asked.

"Oh, here and there," I said.

After all, Ultear and Silver were in dark guilds, Lyon went crazy for that bit on Galuna and Ur had died.

So maybe it was just better to not mention it.

* * *

After some festivities, I finally went home, which seemed odd, considering how long I've been away. Erigor seemed to have taken good care of it though, and everything seemed nice. Freed had also added rune borders around the garden in order to keep it regulated at the right temperature, which was a nice surprise.

Erigor had elected to stay at the guild a little later, so the house was empty.

Slowly, I began to unpack and curled into a ball on the bed. I was finally back to sleeping on my back, but the space around me seemed strangely empty without Laxus.

I barely got any sleep that night.

I wasn't quite exhausted the next day, but it was close.

Even Erigor noticed, but he seemed to think before opening his mouth.

We made our way to the guild and began eating breakfast as the others arrived.

I noticed that Laxus didn't look very well-rested either, and it made me feel better.

Not that I don't want him to get sleep, but it's nice to know he slept better next to me.

"What time do you think they're coming?" Bickslow asked, absently tapping on Papa's puppet.

"They will arrive when they arrive, Bickslow-san," Freed said, sighing.

The door opened and there was some muttered appreciation from it. All five of the wizards stood in the doorway, and Makarov hopped over to them, jumping onto a table. "Hello!" he called. "I'm Master Makarov! Elle says you would like to join our guild."

Ultear nodded eagerly.

"Well, where would you like your emblems?" Makarov asked, holding up the stamp.

"We can really join? Just like that?" Lyon asked, surprised.

Makarov laughed. "Yep. If you're vouched for by one of our members, we know that you can jump right into our family!"

Oh…that explains a lot about the past. And also why Fairy Tail is okay with trusting each other so easily, so quickly.

Makarov started with the stamps and I leaned over to Juvia. "Hey, Juvia, what do you think about those two boys? Aren't they cute? Especially the black haired one?"

But Juvia's eyes widened in horror and she spun around, hugging me and shielding her face with my chest. "Onee-sama, they're _naked_."

Oh.

Oh shit.

Right.

* * *

 **Sorry for not explaining properly but the poll for characters is on Fanfiction.**

 **Also, for Dragonfan47 and anyone else who needs it:**

 **Mercury = Iron**

 **Venus = Light**

 **Earth = Earth**

 **Mars = Fire**

 **Jupiter = Lightning**

 **Saturn = Wind**

 **Uranus = Ice**

 **Neptune = Water**

 **Pluto = Shadows**

 **Also the next chapter might be a bit.**


	51. The End of X774

**Sorry about the fight. I'm disappointed with myself. I guess I'm just not good when it's not a serious battle - if it's friendly fire, I seem to have issues with it.**

 **Also, don't get your hopes up, this is mostly filler. Real stuff starts up next chapter.**

* * *

 **Chapter Fifty One - The End of X774**

So, something I should have seen coming…

While Older!Juvia appreciated Gray's nakedness, Young!Juvia did not.

At all.

"Boys, put your clothes on!" Ur yelled.

Silver sighed, looking at his son. "I still don't understand how he picked up that habit. How does he do it _without_ realizing it?"

Ultear just sighed, before turning back to Makarov and moving the back of her shirt (causing a bit of a panic before people realized she wasn't stripping on purpose). "I want my guildmark on my back, just like Nee-san's!"

Now it's just a circle, considering that I got the idea of my placement kinda from Ultear…though I suppose that the first time around she did it so she could hide Grimoire Heart's guildmark, since it was a dark guild.

Gray and Lyon both got theirs on their chests (since their shirts were already off, anyway), and Silver got his on his arm. Ur got hers on her stomach.

"So, tell me about your magic!" Makarov said.

The entire guild (not being the messy thing it became once Natsu joined, though still rowdy in its own right) settled down to hear everyone's explanations.

Especially since _I_ was the one bringing them in.

Apparently I now have something of a reputation among the older mages.

Ur started. "My name is Ur Milkovich, and I practice Maker Magic. So do the boys; this is Gray Fullbuster and Lyon Vastia. All five of us specialize in Ice. My daughter,-"

"I'm Ultear!" Ultear piped up. "And I can do Maker Magic, too. But ever since Nee-san helped me unlock it, I've been practicing with something called Arc of Time."

Makarov's expression didn't change, but his eye began to twitch.

Silver was last. "I'm Silver, I'm Gray's dad. And I practice Devil Slaying Magic."

And…Makarov lost it, and passed out, falling off the table.

Silence for a bit.

"Is he alright?" Ur asked, the five of them staring at Makarov in shock.

"He'll be fine," I said dismissively. "Now, let's celebrate our new guild members!"

The guild went up in cheers and people began to break out the booze, despite it still being morning.

"Wait!" I shouted.

Everyone halted.

I turned to the ice group. "Ur, how would you like to battle one of our mages? I'm interested in seeing which one of you is more powerful."

Ur paused and shrugged. "Sure."

"Everyone, to the training grounds!" I shouted.

Cheers went up again, and all of us marched outside (most people with liquor in their hands). Ur was positioned on one side of the field. "Who do I have the pleasure of fighting?"

I pointed at Gildarts. "This is Gildarts Clive. He practices Crash Magic. He's also known as the Ace of Fairy Tail."

Gildarts sighed and stepped forward. "A little more warning would be appreciated, next time, Elle."

I shrugged it off. "There probably won't be a next time. I don't think I'd put anyone else up against you, except maybe Brandish and one other kid when they get older."

Even still, I'm pretty sure that Gildarts could beat Jellal, hands down.

"You're a Crash Mage?" Ur asked. "Maybe we should put down some sort of barrier to stop the damage."

I nodded. "Great idea, Ur. But we actually already have some runes down!"

After my second fight with Gildarts, I asked Freed to put up regular runes to help stop damage from getting too expansive, and to also set everything back to rights when the battle is finished.

"Whoo! Go Dad!" Cana shouted.

Lyon snorted. "Ur is the strongest wizard alive! She'll kick your dad's ass!"

"Ur is pretty strong…" Gray muttered. He turned to Cana. "What's your name?"

"Cana. I specialize in Card Magic," Cana said.

"Cool," Gray offered.

After many, many beat downs from me and Laxus, as well as scoldings from Ur and Silver, Gray stopped being a stupid cocky child and seemed to be getting a bit better.

Lyon was still a sassy ass, though.

"What's going on?" asked Makarov, having awoken and joined us outside.

"Ur and Gildarts are fighting," I told him.

"Are you sure that's wise?" he asked.

"Nope," I said. "But I'm not actually sure which one will win, and I want to find out."

He blinked, before thinking and quietly saying, "Ur died last time, didn't she? I remember you mentioning wanting to save some powerful wizards."

"Yeah," I muttered. "I'm just glad I was able to help, especially since I reunited her and Ultear."

"Arc of Time…and Devil Slaying Magic?" he asked, turning to me. "Are there any other Lost Magics we'll end up getting?"

" _We'll_ be getting several more Dragon Slayers," I said. "Also, some God Slayers will probably start surfacing, soon, and the Celestial Spirits have asked that I reintroduce the Priestesses of the Moon. And there will be a few more Arcs, as well."

"How many of these were in the last timeline?" Makarov asked.

"The Dragon Slayers and God Slayers, and the Arcs. There was only one Devil Slayer in the end, though, which I know of."

"Gray, your clothes," Cana pointed out.

"Gray!" Ur yelled, while Lyon laughed at him and pointed, which didn't have the same effect because –

"Lyon, yours disappeared too," Cana said.

The boys yelled and scrambled to get their clothes back on.

I sighed. Maybe we need to glue the clothes on, or something?

Was that a thing?

It should be a thing.

"Are you both ready?" Makarov asked.

Ur and Gildarts nodded.

"Get set," Makarov said.

They both tensed and began to build up their magic.

"BEGIN!" Makarov yelled, and their magical pressures increased.

" _Ice Make: Rosen Krone_ ," Ur shouted, and large roses sprouted across the field, rushing at Gildarts, who easily dispelled them with a wave of his hand.

"Wha-?" Lyon started.

"It's called _Crash_ Magic, what did you think it would do?" Cana asked.

" _All Crush_ ," Gildarts intoned, and a strong beam of light went straight for Ur, who not only got up a shield, but _held_.

"No way!" Cana yelled.

"Impressive," Makarov murmured. "I don't think I've ever seen someone block something other than a basic attack from him."

"Yo, guys, I want to see you get serious!" I yelled.

They both looked at me, smiling a little. "Shall we?" Ur asked.

Gildarts smirked. "Why the hell not?"

"Oh my god, Dad. Are you _flirting_?" Cana yelled.

The two ignored Cana and raised their magical pressure.

I sighed as the ground began to vibrate and other mages started to have trouble standing. Something told me we wouldn't get to finish this fight.

" _Ice Make; Volcano_!" Ur shouted.

" _Crushing Evil, Spreading the Truth; Empyrean_!" Gildarts shouted.

Ur's _Volcano_ is supposed to be a lot like Gray's _Geyser_ , except on a much stronger and higher level. Gildarts's spell is _supposed_ to negate an opponent's spell and then hit them with Crash Magic. That didn't happen. Instead, there was a resulting explosion that ended with both mages getting flown backwards and a variety of ice shards, steam, and snow exploding within the battlefield.

When everything died down, both mages were lying on the ground, and while both were clearly conscious, I decided that we should probably stop this before things get worse and we can put up more security and safety measures.

Like three or four more rune barriers.

Or maybe ten.

"Alright, I think that's enough for today," I said, sighing. "Why don't we go back to celebrating?"

There was shouting and cheers from the guild as they went back inside (as well as some disappointed murmurings), and Ur and Gildarts, despite being extremely scratched up, went in merrily, happily talking with each other.

I think Silver looked a little jealous, though I could just be imagining it...

And at the end, Ultear hung back a bit the whole time, looking around at everyone and smiling widely.

* * *

"Elle, we need to talk," Makarov said seriously.

"What's up?" I asked.

"My office," he said.

I followed him upstairs and he closed the door behind us, the runes on the wall and floor springing up.

"It stops sound," Makarov said, looking at my gaze.

I nodded. "Smart." I glared at him. "It also means you have no excuse for not doing paperwork."

He glanced at a drawer which I'm about 98% positive was filled with pornography, before changing the subject. "I finished going through those items."

Items? What items?...Oh.

To tell you the truth I had nearly forgotten about those.

Makarov pulled out the box and placed it on the table. "These are all clear. Though we were a bit confused on some of the items, so we might have taken a bit longer than we expected. And then you were gone for so long…"

I nodded. "Yeah. Thank you."

"Do you have anything else you're unsure of?" Makarov asked.

I paused, thinking, before requipping one thing. I held out the snake pendant I had found. "I've classified everything by what it is, including what it does if it has a magical signature. But I've been unable to figure out what this is. Or well…what it _does_."

Makarov nodded, taking it from me. "Yes, this won't take too long." He paused and looked at me. "One more thing. The S-Class trials…"

I nodded. "Ur could probably jump straight up to SS Class, along with Gildarts."

Makarov nodded. "As for this timeline, measuring everyone's magical abilities…I'm thinking that we should update it once a year, around now."

"Right before the trials?" I asked. "Yeah, that makes sense."

"Alright," Makarov said. "Now let's go enjoy the party."

* * *

After the party I added our new members to the board. For the last timeline, I put Ur _and_ Silver down in the Wizard Saint Category. We never really got to see Silver fight at his full potential (because he wanted to die) but I think he was pretty damn powerful.

And if I'm stretching it a bit, he's just going to have to try a bit harder, isn't he?

Gray was stronger than Lyon in the end (which made Lyon throw a fit when he saw the board) so I put Gray in the low SS Category and Lyon in low S Class. Ultear, I put in high S Class.

On the current chart, I put Ur in the Wizard Saint Category (and she was joined by Gildarts, who moved out of the SS Category). Silver was a high B. Gray and Lyon were both low Bs and Ultear was a high B.

As for everyone else…lots of people moved up at least a bit on their level, some jumping to other letters. Brandish probably had the best improvement, followed by Macao and Wakaba, who were both clear into the A category (probably trying for S Class nominations this year).

In the end it looked something like this:

On the previous timeline –

In the Wizard Saint Category was Makarov, Ur, Brandish, Gildarts, and Laxus. Silver was in the lower half of the category.

Cana had high SS and Gray had low SS. Ultear had high S Class, Lucy and Erigor were in the middle, and Juvia, Freed and Lyon were in low S Class.

Bickslow and Evergreen were in the A Class, with Evergreen a bit lower than Bickslow.

Levy was high B Class, with Macao and Wakaba in the middle, and Nab in high C class, with Reedus.

This time around, though, after updating everyone's abilities and conferencing with most of the older mages...

In Wizard Saint, Makarov. Ur and Gildarts were hovering on the border between High SS and Wizard Saint.

The SS Class was empty, and S Class only had Lucy, on the lowest level.

Laxus and I were high A Class, and Macao was in the middle. Wakaba, Erigor and Cana were all low A Class.

Silver, Juvia and Brandish were high B Class, and Ultear, Levy, Freed and Enno were in the middle. Gray, Lyon and Evergreen were in the lower B Class.

Bickslow was in high C Class, almost at B Class - the thing needed to push him over were more souls. And underneath him was Reedus and Nab.

Taking a step back, I looked at my work. It was amazing to see how quickly we were catching up, especially since we were still a decade before the story began.

* * *

Over a week passed before I realized that I hadn't seen Juvia; in fact, she had slipped into the crowd when Ultear was getting her guildmark.

Which lead to me practically breaking down her door at Fairy Hills.

"Juvia!" I shrieked.

She looked up from where she was sitting. "Onee-sama?"

"What are you doing?" I asked, calming as I realized that this was not an emergency. "I panicked, Juvia. I haven't seen you in days!"

She jumped off her bed and hugged me. "I'm sorry Onee-sama. But I've been hiding..."

I pulled out of the hug to look at her. "Hiding? From what?"

"Perverts."

I sighed. "Alright, listen, remember when I first brought you to the guild? And I talked about acceptance, and your water body?"

She nodded.

"Magic makes people do weird things," I said. "Gray and Lyon are ice wizards, and feel better when they aren't wearing clothing, because it lowers their body temperature. Because of this, they even do it subconsciously."

"What's that mean?" she asked, cocking her head.

"Subconsciously?" I repeated. She nodded. "Well, your subconscious is part of your mind that you don't think of, but memories and information go. It stores things in a separate part of your mind, and it slowly influences you. So the boys don't actually _realize_ what it is they're doing."

"So it's leaking?"

I blinked. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. The information leaks into your normal functions and mind."

I shook my head, and continued. "As I said, Gray and Lyon don't even realize they're stripping, half the time."

"But the other ones don't strip!" Juvia cried.

"Ur strips when she's particularly practicing her Ice Magic, and I honestly don't know why Ultear wasn't affected. Maybe because her Arc of Time magic balances it out, or something...I don't know. And as for Silver, he trained his magic differently. I'm not quite sure what it is that he did, but Silver didn't learn to strip down to use his magic."

Juvia was quiet, thinking. "So...it's like with my water body?..."

"Kind of," I said gently. "It's something that can't really be helped for them. Though we're going to try. You haven't been around lately, but Laxus started shocking them whenever their clothes came off."

"Is it working?" Juvia asked.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "He's not doing it anymore, he was tired of doing it so often. Instead, Cana made some cards to monitor them, and whenever the clothes come off, it gives them a shock. At the very least, they know when their clothes are off, now."

Juvia giggled.

"Come on, we've missed you." I pulled her up, and she came along easily, going down to the guild with me.

* * *

The rest of the year passed pretty easily.

Juvia spent a lot of the time inching around the boys, occasionally letting out squeaks and shrieks when their clothes disappeared. Cana, Freed and Levy sat down, trying to find a way to write runes into their clothes or something to keep the clothes on (though I told them that if they willingly want to take them off, they should be able to, as it helps their fighting).

As far as I know, though, there is no progress on that front.

Also, Cana's electric cards were working for now, but we found out that eventually, after a few days, they seemed to stop working. They weren't sure of why that happened either, especially since all of the other cards we monitored were just fine.

Laxus had his fourteenth birthday (and wasn't that an odd thought) and Porlyusica finally told him the truth about his heritage.

Laxus, as I had guessed, was merely mad that she kept it a secret for so long.

But they got over it.

Wakaba's birthday was celebrated, too, and then I got a surprise visit.

"Hey, Elle."

I will admit…I nearly punched him in the face.

"Phoenix, don't sneak up on me like that!" I snapped at him, before pausing. "Phoenix… Phoenix!"

I jumped at him, hugging him. "I'm so glad you're all better!"

"So am I!" he joked.

I really did hit him, this time.

"So what happened with that guy, anyway?" Phoenix asked.

"Zeref?" I asked. I paused. "You know, I don't actually know. And I haven't seen Mavis in awhile, either…"

"I wasn't really able to find anything in the Celestial Library, even though Crux and I both searched it," he sighed. "Any luck on your end?"

I hmmed. "I think so. But I'm gonna need your help with something else, first. And it's not really the best solution…but it will work for now."

* * *

Before the end of November, Erigor told me that he wanted to move out. He had been saving up all of his money, and he had also found a good place to rent out.

"That's fine," I said, and though I would get lonely, it was. Though I wasn't that surprised. After all, Erigor had had the place to himself for over six months, and probably wants more privacy now that he's had his first taste of it.

He talked it over with the landlord and decided to move in on the first of January, as a birthday present to himself.

Which reminded me that Erigor was turning seventeen soon, and he would be the same age as Lucy and Natsu (sorta) when the series started.

That's a bit of a scary thought.

The S Class trials came and went, leaving both Ur and Gildarts declared as official SS Class, and leaving Erigor and Macao disappointed over their loss - especially since, if they had passed the test, they would have become S Class, despite Ur's elevation.

Laxus, oddly enough, denied the opportunity for the test, claiming he wasn't ready, and that he refused to participate in the trials until his name was clearly in the S Class category on the current timeline chart.

Which brought tears to Makarov's eyes, and caused a whole mess of annoying blubbering.

December came and Erigor's birthday passed, which he also decided to celebrate (and cheer himself up) by taking on his first solo mission.

After reminding him for the fifth time to be careful, he pointing out that I had a card that registered his location and his vitals, and that he would be fine.

And he was fine.

Then Levy decided that she wanted to take a small solo mission the town over decoding a small tablet, and we changed the rule. If there was fighting involved, no solo missions until you were over sixteen. But simple jobs were fine, as long as they weren't overnight.

And then, finally, it was Christmas.

* * *

 **So...sorry about the chapter. I know you guys all probably wanted something more, but this was all I was able to do for this week, because I'm moving up to the college this weekend. I probably won't be able to post the next chapter until late next week. Sorry about that.**

 **Also, I'm sorry about the psychology stuff. Like with Elle's kleptomania, it wasn't planned, it just sort of happened.**

 **I had a sugar high the other day (she was also sleep deprived) and was trying to explain the subconscious and I kinda just ended up with 'it's leaking guys _...leaking'._**

 **And it kinda ended up in here when I wasn't paying attention.**


	52. Christmas, Part One

**I'm sorry about the delay, and that this chapter is a bit shorter than my usual (which is probably around 2.2 K). The next few ones should be bigger than my usual, though.**

 **Today is my first day of class! I'm so excited. :3**

 **Adulting is not nearly as hard as most people make it out to be. I'm mostly pissed that they're aren't really any real supermarkets in Boston. Well there is one that is horribly overpriced, so I left it. :(**

 **Well, I still found a place to get butter, cheese, eggs and bread, and that's really what I needed, so I'm good. :)**

 **The Boston Public Library is pretty fucking awesome, too.**

* * *

 **Chapter Fifty Two - Christmas Miracles, Part One**

"Ellie-nee, Ellie-nee!" A blonde-haired, Elle-seeking missile smacked into me, nearly piling me on top of Gray, who had the misfortune of being right , behind me.

"Hey Lucy!" I gasped, righting myself. She and her parents had been extremely busy, and had unfortunately missed the last few birthday parties (though Jude had kindly sent over enough payment for Erigor's first month of rent, as a birthday present).

"Guess what guess what guess what guess what?!" Lucy shouted, jumping up and down.

"What?" I asked.

"Jeez, didn't anyone ever tell you to watch where you were going?" Gray shouted at Lucy.

Lucy growled at Gray, who (because she hadn't come by) she hadn't met yet. "At least I'm not a pervert, naked boy!"

"Gahh!" Gray yelled, grabbing at his clothes. Damn, I guess the electric cards stopped working again. "Still, watch where you're going you…"

Laxus put a hand on Gray's shoulder. "I'm gonna stop you right now, Gray. She's way out of your league."

"Yes, yes I am!" Lucy sniffed haughtily, though it was slightly ruined when she turned to me and asked, "Am I out of anyone else's league, Ellie-nee?"

"W…what?" Gray cried.

Laxus shrugged. "Whether you've got a crush on her or you want to fight her…she's out of your league, kid."

"What? She's got to be a year younger than me! How can she be stronger than me? She's just a weak little girl!"

"What was that?" a voice hissed.

Ohhhhhhh. Scary!Lucy, at seven years old.

This will be interesting.

Lucy started raising her magical aura, and Gray, who was right next to her, started having trouble standing.

"Lucy, stop scaring Gray," I told her.

She stopped. "But I just started!" she pouted.

"Just…started…" Gray wheezed.

"You and Gray will get along, and behave. No fighting him!" I told her, leaning down. I whispered in her ear. "Your dragon will fight him for you."

She backed away. "Really?"

I nodded.

She giggled. "Alright." She turned and hugged Gray, who stayed frozen. "It's nice to meet you, Gray-nii!"

And then she left and trotted off to the others, even though she still hadn't said what she wanted to.

"What…just happened?" Gray stammered.

Lyon burst into laughter, unable to hold it in. "I don't know, but that was hilarious! Oh, that was absolutely amazing! Hahahahaha!"

Gray punched him. "Shut up, asshole!"

* * *

Lucy's news was revealed later that day, before Christmas dinner, when she realized that she hadn't told me the news and tackled me from behind.

"Ellie-nee, Ellie-nee, I can open six gates! Can I have Phoenix's key now?" she practically screamed.

Oh. Well then.

"You can," I said. "But on one condition."

She stopped vibrating with excitement and stared at me. "Yeah?"

I smiled. "How do you feel about making a Christmas miracle?"

* * *

We teleported directly into the castle.

Toma was sitting on the floor, playing with Hisui. He looked up as we arrived. "Ella?" he asked.

"Hey," I said, smiling. "Lucy can open Phoenix's gate."

Toma perked up immediately, and turned to smile at Lucy. "Lucy Heartfilia, thank you for your service to this country."

"Okay!" Lucy said happily. "I just do what Ellie-nee asks of me!"

"Do you remember Ame?" I asked her.

Lucy nodded. "Yeah, she was super nice!"

I wandered over to Hisui, who raised her arms in the universal sign for 'up'. Scooping her into my arms, I sat down on the couch. "Ame nearly died giving birth to Hisui. But I managed to find a way to keep her in stasis, by putting her in a giant lacrima."

Lucy nodded. Even at seven years old, she could keep up pretty well. "So we're going to use Phoenix to heal her?"

"We're going to use Phoenix _and_ Crater," I corrected. "I don't want you to summon anyone right now (or even later); you need to save your strength for Phoenix. I'll be summoning Crater."

"Have you ever summoned a Celestial Spirit?" Lucy asked.

"Once," I grimaced, and started taking off my magical cuffs. "But I did it with my cuffs on, and it was Loke."

Lucy nodded. "Yeah, you probably shouldn't have started off with a Zodiac gate, much less the leader."

I shrugged. "Crater is a silver key, so it should be easier."

I put Hisui down on the couch and pulled out Phoenix's and Crater's keys, turning to Lucy. "Can you requip Corvus's key?"

She nodded and requipped it, handing it to me.

"Corvus, Phoenix," I said.

There was a glow of light and both of them shimmered into view.

"Thanks for coming out on your own," I said. "You guys know the situation?"

They both nodded, and Corvus pulled out a tonic. "You should use this. For Crater," he clarified, handing it to me.

I nodded, and turned to Toma. "Well…lead the way."

It seemed to hit him then, that he was getting his wife back, and his eyes filled with tears as he picked up Hisui. "Thank you," he said, leading us through a series of hallways.

Lucy gaped the whole time. "Ellie-nee, this place is _so awesome!_ " she whispered to me.

Toma, who was in front of us, chuckled a little before carrying on.

He opened a door and led us into a room where Ame lay, crystallized inside a lacrima.

"She looks like Snow White," Lucy said. She turned, smiling, to Toma. "Maybe all you have to do is kiss her!"

It's times like this that I regret showing them Disney.

Corvus (who had been following us, along with Phoenix) leaned down and lightly grasped Lucy by the shoulders. "Princess, I'm afraid that it will take some more extensive healing than that." Lucy seemed to pout a bit at that. "But when we're done healing, he can kiss her," Corvus continued, which made her perk up.

Wow, she has him wrapped around her finger. That's adorable.

"Yay!" Lucy yelled, spinning around.

"Alright, Phoenix, are you ready?" I asked him.

He nodded, and vanished back to the Celestial World.

Lucy calmed herself down, becoming serious.

I took Crater's key and took a deep breath. " _Open, Gate of the Cup. Crater!_ " There was a ding as Crater popped into existence, and I was reminded of Beauty and the Beast.

 _What's with all the fairy tales, today?_

"Hello, Miss Elle! It's an honor to be your acquaintance!" The cup, in a shape of a goblet with a face on it, hopped around. "I've heard so much about you!"

"Hi, Crater," I said. "We're going to need your help healing. Alright with that?"

"Yes, Miss Elle, we'll fix this lady up lickity splickit!"

"What?"

"In a jiffy!"

Cups are weird.

I poured the tonic into Crater and handed Crater to Toma, who shifted Hisui to one side so he could also hold the cup ready for me.

I walked over to stand above Ame, and took a deep breath, before turning to Lucy. "You ready?"

She nodded. " _Open, Gate of the Firebird! Phoenix!_ "

There was a shimmer and a wave of heat as Phoenix appeared. "Woah!" he breathed. "Awesome! I feel _great_!"

I snorted a bit and turned to Ame, and the whole room stilled.

And then I was cutting the lacrima open and pulling her out.

I kicked the lacrima off of the altar it was on and placed Ame there instead. Phoenix was already next to me, healing power coming off of him in waves.

As I moved to get Crater from Toma, Phoenix placed one hand on Ame's head and the other on her lower stomach.

Toma handed me the cup and I turned to Ame, slowly pouring the Celestial tonic down her throat, both the tonic and Crater glowing as I did so. I gently massaged her throat to make sure the potion went down.

Slowly, Phoenix stopped his healing, and we all looked at Ame, who was nice and relaxed, her chest moving up and down steadily. "Done," he said quietly.

"That was anticlimactic," Corvus muttered.

I hit him. "You _never_ say that. As soon as you say that, problems arise, and it starts to become unanticlimactic."

"Couldn't you just say 'climactic'?" Phoenix asked.

"Shut up!"

Ame yawned and began to sit up. "What…happened?"

"You've been asleep for awhile, darling," Toma said quietly, walking up to her with Hisui.

"Is…is that Hisui?" Ame's voice wavered.

Toma nodded, handing Hisui over to her mother. "There were complications during your pregnancy, and there was no way to heal you." His voice cracked. "Elle put you in a lacrima, in order to push the problems off to the future, for when she could get a special healer for you."

Ame's eyes watered as she turned to me. "Thank you, Elle," before turning towards her daughter. "Hello, my darling little girl…"

I don't know how she did it.

I don't think I would be able to do it.

Giving birth, and then missing over the first year of my child's life? I would be ranting and sobbing.

Ame is a good person.

Or a better person than me, at least.

"What do you say, Hisui?" Toma asked her.

"Fank you for giving Mama!" Hisui said. "Fank you, Ellie-ne!"

I leaned forward and hugged the little girl. "You're welcome, Hisui. Don't forget to thank Lucy-nee, either."

Hisui leaned over to Lucy and waved her arm. "Fank you, Lushi-ne!"

Lucy beamed at the little girl. "You're welcome, Hisui-hime! Merry Christmas!"

We waved goodbye and closed the Celestial Gates, and then I grabbed Lucy and took her back to the guild.

But I had one more stop to make.

* * *

 **Okay, so generally, young children cannot pronounce the 'th' sound. It's generally replaced by an 'f' sound, the same way that 'r' is usually replaced by 'w'. Another thing extremely young children do is forget certain words. The original sentence would be 'thank you for giving me Mama', but children tend to forget the 'me' at that age.**

 **I also put up a different poll about shipping on my FANFICTION profile page. Check it out!**

 **So...what's the next stop going to be? Any guesses?**


	53. Christmas, Part Two

**Alright, for now I'm back on track! Things will probably slow down once I get a job, but I should be able to post two chapters a week.**

 **And to the guest who got it right...go you!**

* * *

 **Chapter Fifty Three - Christmas Miracles, Part Two**

It was hot.

Too hot.

Well…not that hot, actually.

Especially considering that I remembered how hot it was last time. It was definitely better now.

Still.

Tenroujima was way too fucking hot.

"What the hell are you doing?" a voice questioned from next to me.

Corvus grew out of my shadow and stood beside me.

A circle of fire exploded next to him, and Phoenix appeared out of it.

"I didn't know you could do that," I said.

"I didn't either," he said. "It's another bonus I got when I finished the contract with Lucy."

"That's nice," I said, a bit absently.

"Elle," Corvus said. "Seriously. What are you doing?"

"Christmas Miracles," I continued absently, walking into the forest.

"Elle…" Phoenix said.

"It'll be fine," I said. "Go back to Lucy." I gave them soft smiles. "Celebrate Christmas with your friends in the human realms."

The two exchanged a look.

"I know that Loke is spending the holidays at the guild with Lucy," I commented.

"That damn lion better get away from my princess!" Corvus snarled, disappearing.

"Corvus!" Phoenix shot me one more look, like he knew what I was planning, and I shrugged. He sighed and vanished into a ball of fire.

And then I was practically alone on an island in the sea.

Practically.

"Elle?" a soft voice asked. A small girl floated down from a tree. "What are you doing here?"

I smiled at her. "Hey, Mavis."

"Hello!" the cheerful girl said happily. "What brings you to the island?"

"A Christmas Miracle," I said.

She gasped. "It's Christmas? Already?"

I nodded.

Mavis's face was distraught, and she looked back and forth over the ocean and back towards the center of Tenrou.

"You ought to go to the guild, and celebrate with everyone else!" I said. "I know it's been awhile since you've been to the guild, and we've got some new members."

She brightened and nodded, though she gave a longing look towards the center of the island. "What about you?"

"You go ahead, I'll be there in a bit," I said.

She nodded happily and flew off towards the tree in the center, and (darting through the trees and shadows,) I secretly chased after her.

There was a moment when she stopped flying, and I peeked out behind a tree to survey the scene.

"Mavis…I can tell you're there," a soft spoken voice said.

"Zeref…I'm going to go spend the evening with my guild. It's Christmas Eve. But I'll be back tomorrow morning, to celebrate with you!"

"Christmas…I haven't celebrated Christmas in nearly four hundred years…"

Zeref smiled softly at Mavis. "Have a fun evening, Mavis."

"Merry Christmas, Zeref," she said sadly, before buzzing away.

I came out from behind the tree. "Hey Zeref!" I chirped.

He straightened. "Elle?"

I smiled at him. "Hey, Merry Christmas!"

He smiled softly, eyes tearing up.

I sighed.

"It's good to see you," he said. "You've grown…"

"Yes, Zeref, that tends to happen over time," I teased, before plopping down on the ground a few feet away from him.

"Tell me something…" I said. "Your curse doesn't work if you're unconscious, right?"

He nodded. "Generally, it does not, though if magic was cast at me it would have a bad reaction."

I nodded, before continuing. "And if…you got a chance to join Fairy Tail…where would you like your guild mark? And in what color?"

"I don't know," he mused. "I suppose I would do whatever Natsu would get. Why?"

With that answer, I whipped out a coconut and threw it at his head. It met with a solid 'thunk' and Zeref toppled over, unconscious.

After waiting a few seconds to see if he'd stir, I walked over to him and moved up his right sleeve, requipping out Fairy Tail's stamp.

Pressing it down against the top of his right arm, it worked its magic and I pulled it off.

Instead of the red I was going for, it was black…even though I set it perfectly.

 _Maybe it has something to do with his magic…_

I shook off my thoughts and requipped out the giant lacrima I had previously put Ame in. Picking up Zeref's body, I put it in the lacrima and quickly sealed it up.

I checked one more time to make sure it was perfect, and picked it up, before vanishing.

Tenrou Island was devoid of human life once more.

* * *

I left Zeref's body at Mavis's grave.

Then, in circles moving outwards, I left monitoring cards. I didn't want to move the lacrima to the basement of the guild until I knew for sure that no death energy would escape from the lacrima.

I backed away from the crystal and sent a blast of lightning at the lacrima.

A wave of death energy surrounded Zeref, but it stayed contained.

"Wake up, Zeref!" I shouted.

"What the hell is going on?" a voice demanded. It was the most anger I'd seen from him in this life.

I whirled around, and Zeref stood beside me.

"Simple," I said. "This is the closest I could come to breaking your curse. With your body in the lacrima, your spirit can spend time with us. You're a member of Fairy Tail, now, and we take care of our family."

He gasped. "What?"

I pointed at the place the mark was. "Sorry about the color, by the way. Natsu has his in red, but yours ended up as black. Probably something to do with your magic."

He stayed frozen.

"You'll also be able to see Mavis!" I piped in.

His head snapped up, and he seemed to come back to reality. "Really?"

I nodded. "Let's go!"

After giving directions, I teleported to the guild hall and waited outside. A few moments later, Zeref appeared, and began to walk towards the guild with me.

"Are you ready?" I asked.

He didn't really give a response. Looking over, I could see he was crying again.

I grabbed his hand, which (oddly enough) I could still manage to feel, and dragged him to the door. He held back, trying to hide from view.

I don't blame him for being nervous.

"Everyone, I have an announcement!" I shouted.

"Ellie-nee! You're back!"

I smiled and held up a hand (to stop me from getting tackled). "Guys, we have a new member!"

"Is that why you stole our stamp?" Makarov grumbled.

I paused. "Maybe."

There was some snickering.

Mavis, who was flying near the top of the tree (our own angel, huh?) floated down eagerly. "Well, introduce them, Elle! I want to meet our new member!"

"Yeah!" several voices shouted.

"What?" Layla asked confused.

"Mavis said that she wants to meet our new member!" Lucy explained cheerfully.

Both Layla and Jude nodded, and it seemed that they both accepted a magical flying ghost/founder of the guild with no issues.

"May I present to you all…Zeref!"

I dragged him inside.

There was silence, except for Mavis, who seemed in shock and was staring straight at Zeref, who was meeting her gaze.

"Like…the Black Wizard?" Gray growled.

"Nope. He _is_ the Black Wizard," I said.

And then I remembered.

"Shit."

"YOU MADE DELIORA!" Gray roared, running for Zeref.

That was right; when we all sat in a circle discussing things about Zeref, Gray wasn't there.

Before Gray could make it halfway across the room, though, he was punched in the face.

By Lucy.

"Ah, woman, what the hell?" Gray yelled from the floor. All of us seemed frozen.

"If Ellie-nee says that Zeref is okay, then he is! She wouldn't hurt us! And she would never bring in someone who could hurt Fairy Tail!"

"Lucy…" Jude said weakly. "Please don't punch your guildmates."

Layla seemed to be trying not to laugh.

"Thank you, Miss…" Zeref started.

"Heartfilia," Lucy answered, smiling and curtsying to him. "Lucy Heartfilia."

He blinked. "Descendent of Anna?"

"Um…"

"Yes," Layla answered. "She was my ancestor."

"Are you, perhaps, a Celestial Wizard?" Zeref asked Lucy.

Lucy nodded and smiled. "Yep!"

Zeref smiled. "It is good to know that one of the five is still active."

"All of them will be," I told him. With the Celestial Spirits giving me books for the Agurias and the Royal Family, all of the Stellar bloodlines would be practicing their specialized magic.

He shook his head. "I understand that that may be one of your goals, but their magic was passed down. Even if you revive the others, it still won't be exactly the same. Family secrets will remain lost…"

"Who cares?" Gray yelled, standing up. "You created Deliora! And Deliora killed my mother!"

Zeref's face grew somber. "I'm truly sorry about that. Alas, while many call Deliora a demon from the Books of Zeref, it isn't exactly true."

"I don't care-" Gray started, but a blast of electricity knocked him over.

"Sit down, shut up, and _listen_ ," Laxus boomed, glaring at Gray.

"Gray," Ur said in a soft voice. "We should always hear all sides of the story."

Gray paused and Silver put a hand on his shoulder and sat him down. "Sit, Gray."

"Thank you," I muttered quietly to Laxus.

"No problem," he muttered back.

"What the hell do you mean?" Gray said, slightly less angry. "When you said it wasn't a demon from the Books of Zeref. You created that monster, didn't you?"

Before Zeref could start, I clapped my hands. "Alright everybody, sit down. It's time for a history lesson!"

There was some grumbling, but no one outrightly complained, and when the rest of the guild sat and quieted down, Zeref began his story.

"I was considered a magical prodigy, as a child. Because of that, I gained entry into Mildian Magic Academy at the age of six."

"Six?" Makarov gasped.

"What's Mildian Academy?" Cana asked.

"It's a legend," Gildarts commented. "Supposedly one of the best places in the world to learn magic."

"Unfortunately, four hundred years ago, everyone died in a mysterious accident," Ur picked up.

"If it was still around today, I would have enrolled Lucy a few years ago," Layla said softly. "We have some stories from ancestors who attended, and it truly seemed like a magnificent school."

Zeref nodded. "It was. I would go there during the daytime, and this is where things started – one day, while I was at school, a dragon attacked my house. Both of my parents perished immediately, and nothing was left of them. My younger brother, who was four at the time, died as well, but I was able to preserve his body."

"I spent the next few years trying to find ways to bring him back to life."

Many gasped. But most of the kids knew this already, so they stayed quiet.

Gray seemed conflicted, looking back and forth between Zeref and the rest of his Ice Family.

"I spent nearly a decade trying to find a cure - a way to bring him back. Something to change it. I even looked into time travel…but in the end, most ideas were scrapped. One, the R System, would probably have succeeded, but it required the sacrifice of many, and so that was put aside as well. And then…I was cursed."

He took a deep breath. "The school expelled me for going against Ankhseram's laws; and _he_ himself cursed me. When I went to the school the following day to protest my expulsion, my curse activated."

He seemed to go silent here, and I picked up for him. "Zeref carries something called the Curse of Contradiction – the more he cares about people and humanity, the more dangerous he is to the people around him, releasing death energy, and such. When he doesn't care, however, he causes no automatic harm."

"Does that mean you don't care right now?" Makarov asked.

I, once again, answered. "No. He's not here right now. This is his astral projection form. His death energy won't harm anyone here."

"You seem pretty real to me," Layla commented.

"You can see him?" I asked.

She nodded.

 _Probably because he's so powerful_ , I mused.

"If it hurts others when you care for them…" Ultear said softly. "What happened at the school?"

Zeref let out another sigh. "No one survived. Everyone in the whole town died."

Layla gasped. "So the mysterious accident..."

Zeref bowed his head. "Yes."

He took a moment to recollect himself, before continuing. "I continued to see if I could bring back my brother, but I had another goal – make something that could kill me. All of my Etherious – all of the demons – were merely prototypes for my brother. I wanted to make sure I could do it properly before I attempted anything. I also attempted to make an extremely powerful being – one that would be strong enough to end me."

He looked up. "Deliora was discarded. Not only would it be unable to end my life, but there would also be no controlling it. I ended the process of creating it as quickly as I began. I know that another one of my demons – my true Etherious – decided to make him a reality, but they also sealed him up when I asked them too, so I'm a bit unsure as to how he became a problem…"

"I'm assuming they let it loose," I said. "It was rampaging through Seven for about half a year. They probably released it there so it couldn't be tracked back to them."

He paused, before nodding. "I see. Where is it now?"

"A few of us took care of it," I said.

He was shocked. "You destroyed him?"

"Yep," I answered. "But we also had Devil Slayer Magic on our side."

He seemed to relax. "Ah, I understand."

"Who was it?" Gray hissed. "Who made Deliora? I'll kill them!"

I sighed, before turning to look at Zeref.

"A woman named Kyoka," Zeref answered. "She is also a demon of mine, and I will see about visiting them to make them keep things under control."

I snorted. "Yeah, like anyone can keep Kyoka and Jackal under control."

Zeref grimaced. "Yes, there is a chance they are a lost cause. It's been years since I've spoken with them."

"Kyoka…" Gray hissed.

Lucy punched him again. "Stop being an idiot, you're what, eight? You can't take her on yet. Train for awhile. Maybe then, you'll be able to take down a demon."

"I took down Deliora!" Gray said angrily.

"With help," Zeref added in, and everyone looked back to him. "Deliora wasn't a _real_ demon, and for the record, neither are any of the other ones. 'Demon' is the closest word to what they are, but that is why I termed them as 'Etherious'. They _aren't_ demons. And Deliora is on a much lower level than the rest."

"It's technically true," Silver said quietly. "The demon that trained me wasn't from the Books of Zeref. He was an actual demon, and on a whole different level from Keyes and the rest of them." He looked at his son. "Kyoka is going to be a lot harder to take down than you think. The only reason Deliora caused so much damage was because of his size. The rest of them are going to be a _lot_ harder to take down. Kyoka, especially, because she can enhance an enemy's pain. She's much stronger than Deliora. She was made by the real thing, after all."

Zeref looked away in shame, and Ur hit Silver for being insensitive.

I sighed.

"Zeref..." Makarov said quietly, walking forward. "This guild is known for second chances. You've been scorned by history, but you won't be scorned by us. Welcome to Fairy Tail."

Zeref's eyes filled with tears. "I...thank you...so..."

Mavis flew towards him, and for the first time in who knows how long, Zeref Dragneel, the Black Wizard, got a hug.

"Are you going to cry?" Laxus asked from beside me.

"I'm just...really emotional, okay?" I hissed. "I'm just glad that this time around...I was able to help them. No one should be alone."

Laxus gave me a sad smile. "You're not alone, anymore, Elle. Didn't we already have this conversation?"

I smiled back. "Side by side."

He nodded, and gave me a hug. "You were amazing, today, Elle. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," I whispered in his ears.

"Zeref?" came a soft voice.

I left Laxus's embrace and turned to Gray, who was standing next to Zeref, and seemed to have trouble with what he was about to say. Finally, he took a deep breath, and opened his mouth. "I'm sorry about your brother."

Zeref gave him a sad smile, and ruffled his hair, which had Gray swatting at his hands. "Thank you. Though I've long since moved on. It was over four hundred years ago, after all..." His eyes seemed distant before he returned to reality, and he looked at Gray. "You remind me of him."

"Did I look like him?" Gray asked.

Zeref laughed. "No, he looked nothing like you, or me for that matter. But he was always very hot headed, even at a young age..."

Gray flushed. "I'm not usually hot headed..."

"He's generally right," Silver said. "He's only usually only hot headed when it comes to fighting Lyon."

There was laughs around the guild, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

If Gray had lost both Silver and Ur to Deliora, I had no doubt that this would have gone much differently.

Makarov used his Titan magic to become Santa Claus, handing out presents, and once again, a warm, fuzzy feeling filled my chest as I looked around the room happily.

 _Thank you for this second chance...no. For_ a _chance._

* * *

 **So, um...I got a really mean guest review, saying, and I quote: "What a bunch of bullshit. Go kill yourself for writing this garbage." So some reassurance would be nice...**

 **I'll probably delete it soon so it doesn't upset me every time I scroll through my reviews.**

 **Sometimes that helps me write, so I'll do that if I'm stuck or unmotivated. And if I see the review again I'll just go back into a depression. So... Yeah. If you really want to leave a mean review and keep it in this story, don't be a coward and use the guest review. Cause I'll just delete it. Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah.**


	54. The Start of X775

**I wanted to post this yesterday, but I ended up working on it longer than I thought, and it's about twice my normal length!**

 **So I got another rude guest review, and I'm starting to think that the troll is totally reading this story as I post it and is just going back and commenting for whatever weird reason.**

 **As I said before, though - I will continue to delete any rude guest reviews. If you don't want it to be deleted, you have to post it with your account, you cowards. Then I _can't_ delete it.**

 **As for everyone else, thank you so so so so so much for your totally awesome support. More than a few of you made me cry, and I love you all. Don't worry - this story won't stop until it's finished.**

* * *

 **Chapter Fifty Four - The Start of X775**

Another year had passed, and we were all a year older. Levy, Lucy, Juvia, Max and Brandish were all seven years old. Cana, Gray and Laki were eight. Lyon and Ultear were nine. Freed, Evergreen and Nab were all ten. Bickslow and I were eleven. Laxus was fourteen, and Erigor and Reedus were seventeen. Enno had turned twenty-one. Wakaba, Macao, Layla and Ur had turned twenty-seven, and Silver had turned twenty-eight while Jude turned twenty-nine. Gildarts turned thirty-seven, Porlyusica turned sixty-nine, and Makarov turned seventy-eight.

This wasn't exactly discovered easily, though.

"I propose we create a list!" Freed announced, early into January.

"Hmm?" I asked. Most of us were in the training room, though Cana and Juvia were out on a job and Macao and Enno were…presumably occupied.

"Despite my large mental capabilities, I am having difficulty remembering everyone's birthdays!" Freed continued.

"Did you swallow a dictionary recently or something?" Laxus muttered.

"Yes," Freed said. "Both Levy-san and I have been studying the dictionary in order to expand our vocabularies!"

"Back to the point," Levy interrupted slowly. "It's probably smart to make a list. Especially with new people joining every year…"

"I think it's a good idea," Ultear said quietly. "I'm having some trouble remembering everyone's birthday's and ages."

"Alright," I said. "Time for a new list!" I moved up to the front of the room, and to the right of the timelines measuring our strength, I started up a new list.

"Who are the January birthdays?" I asked. "Anyone other than Reedus?"

"Mine is the 26th," Ur said.

I nodded. "Alright."

Requipping out what I needed for my list, I started at the top.

 _January 19_ _th_ _– Reedus (17)_

 _January 26_ _th_ _– Ur (27)_

"Alright, February birthdays?" I asked. "Brandish is the 2nd and Laki is the 28th."

No one spoke up, so I put a divider underneath January and started a new month.

 _February 2_ _nd_ _– Brandish (7)_

 _February 28_ _th_ _– Laki (8)_

"March?" I asked.

"Mine is the 8th," Gray offered.

"I feel slightly offended," Makarov grumbled. "Mine is the 1st."

I nodded. "And Max's is the 17th."

Putting another divider under February, I started out March.

 _March 1_ _st_ _– Makarov (78)_

 _March 8_ _th_ _– Gray (8)_

 _March 17_ _th_ _– Max (7)_

"Max and Laki are the ones we are waiting on to join, correct?" Makarov asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, and I'm visiting them and making sure that they're keeping up on their magic. Max is a sand mage and Laki is a wood-maker mage."

"I look forward to meeting them," Makarov acknowledged.

"Now, for April…" I said, my voice trailing off. I turned to Gildarts. "Since you were _so_ upset last time, _when_ is your birthday?"

"The 7th," he grumbled, slightly embarrassed.

I nodded. "And Juvia's is the 26th. Is anyone else's birthday in April?"

At everyone's shaking of their heads I turned back to the wall and put the divider between March and April, and started with April's birthdays.

 _April 7_ _th_ _– Gildarts (35)_

 _April 26_ _th_ _– Juvia (7)_

"Now, for May," I said, already putting up the divider and my birthday, as the first.

 _May 1_ _st_ _– Elle (11)_

"Am I the only May birthday?" I asked.

"My birthday is the 14th!" Ultear piped up.

I smiled. At least Ultear had escaped early enough to celebrate her birthday with her mom last year.

 _May 14_ _th_ _– Ultear (9)_

"June," I said, already scrawling out Lucy's:

 _June 1_ _st_ _– Lucy (7)_

"Does anyone else have a June birthday?" I asked.

"Mine is the 24th," Nab said quietly.

I froze, before exploding. "WE DIDN'T CELEBRATE YOUR BIRTHDAY LAST YEAR! I'M SO SORRY NAB!"

He gave a small laugh. "It's okay. I asked Enno to keep it quiet. I didn't want to make a big spectacle of it, and Fairy Tail kinda goes overboard when it comes to some things…"

Well he wasn't exactly wrong.

I sighed, and put up his birthday.

 _June 24_ _th_ _– Nab (10)_

"Alright, who has July birthdays?" I asked.

"I'm pretty sure it's just me and Cana!" Levy chirped.

I nodded and waited to see if anyone else piped up, before turning to add them to the list.

 _July 9_ _th_ _– Levy (7)_

 _July 12_ _th_ _– Cana (8)_

"Alright, as for August…anyone other than Layla, Evergreen and Enno?"

Everyone shook their heads no, and I added on the August birthdays.

 _August 12_ _th_ _– Layla (27)_

 _August 24_ _th_ _– Evergreen (10)_

 _August 31_ _st_ _– Enno (21)_

"As for September," Freed piped up before I could ask. "I believe that it only holds my birthday and Macao's birthday."

I nodded and turned back to the wall.

 _September 8_ _th_ _– Macao (27)_

 _September 30_ _st_ _– Freed (10)_

"And October?" I asked.

"Mine!" Bickslow piped up, his tongue waggling a bit, which had probably grown even longer (though still not what it was in the future). I started to wonder if having his guildmark there had messed with it. Like a radioactive spider bite.

"Anyone else?" All was quiet.

I turned back to the wall and put up Bickslow's.

 _October 23_ _rd_ _– Bickslow (11)_

"As for November?" I asked.

"Me and Wakaba," Laxus said.

"Wakaba and I," Freed corrected.

We ignored him.

"Porlyusica's birthday is in November, as well," Makarov said.

"When?" I asked, frowning.

"The 16th," Makarov replied.

"Another birthday we didn't celebrate," I muttered, turning back to the wall.

 _November 16_ _th_ _– Porlyusica (69)_

 _November 18_ _th_ _– Wakaba (27)_

 _November 23_ _rd_ _– Laxus (14)_

"And December?" I asked.

"Mine," Erigor said.

"Jude's birthday is in December, too…" Wakaba added.

I frowned. "When?"

"The 29th, I think," Wakaba said.

I sighed and added them.

 _December 16_ _th_ _– Erigor (17)_

 _December 29_ _th_ _– Jude (29)_

I frowned, looking up at the list, before turning and glaring at everyone.

"Lyon….Silver…." I hissed. "When are your birthdays?..."

"Dad's is December 22nd!" Gray squeaked.

"Gray!" Silver protested

"And how old is he?"

"Twenty Eight!"

"And Lyon….." I set my sights on him.

"October 16th!" Lyon breathed, terrified.

I growled and fixed the board. Now finished, it looked like this…

* * *

 _January 19_ _th_ _– Reedus (17)_

 _January 26_ _th_ _– Ur (27)_

* * *

 _February 2_ _nd_ _– Brandish (7)_

 _February 28_ _th_ _– Laki (8)_

* * *

 _March 1_ _st_ _– Makarov (78)_

 _March 8_ _th_ _– Gray (8)_

 _March 17_ _th_ _– Max (7)_

* * *

 _April 7_ _th_ _– Gildarts (35)_

 _April 26_ _th_ _– Juvia (7)_

* * *

 _May 1_ _st_ _– Elle (11)_

 _May 14_ _th_ _– Ultear (9)_

* * *

 _June 1_ _st_ _– Lucy (7)_

 _June 24_ _th_ _– Nab (10)_

* * *

 _July 9_ _th_ _– Levy (7)_

 _July 12_ _th_ _– Cana (8)_

* * *

 _August 12_ _th_ _– Layla (27)_

 _August 24_ _th_ _– Evergreen (10)_

 _August 31_ _st_ _– Enno (21)_

* * *

 _September 8_ _th_ _– Macao (27)_

 _September 30_ _st_ _– Freed (10)_

* * *

 _October 16_ _th_ _– Lyon (9)_

 _October 23_ _rd_ _– Bickslow (11)_

* * *

 _November 16_ _th_ _– Porlyusica (69)_

 _November 18_ _th_ _– Wakaba (27)_

 _November 23_ _rd_ _– Laxus (14)_

* * *

 _December 16_ _th_ _– Erigor (17)_

 _December 22_ _nd_ _– Silver (28)_

 _December 29_ _th_ _– Jude (29)_

* * *

That ought to help. And we'd update it once everyone's birthday passed, so it would look all up to date.

* * *

At the beginning of the year, everyone started pestering Zeref to teach them magic, or how to better their control of their magic, which, of course, made him start tearing up again, happy for our support.

However, I stepped in before that, and shuffled Mavis and Zeref off on a honeymoon now that they can properly communicate and see each other and touch each other and have odd astral projection ghost sex or whatever tickles their fancy.

I don't really care what they do, but they deserve time with each other.

So, with Zeref and Mavis gone (and the adults mostly busy), the year began (and continued for the most part) with stupidity.

Apparently, when I told the kids I had the year off, they took that to mean as; we can cut our practice time in half and do other shit.

Which is what they did.

For several months.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Let's start with the beginning of the year – January.

Near the end of January, I approached Freed and asked him to help with a project of mine that was virtually impossible.

He, of course, said yes.

* * *

"I _did_ say it was virtually impossible," I reminded him.

"Ella-sama, this isn't just virtually impossible; it is physically, magically, and mentally impossible! There is no such thing as an endless power source!"

"Freed!" I said. "Remember – leave that part up to me. I want to know if you can do it. Hypothetically."

He glared at me, before looking back down at the notes and sighing. "Fine. _Hypothetically_ …if there is such a thing as an endless power source, we _would_ be able to hook it up to a series of runes in order to make the runes stronger."

"Would the shield be able to support a far, long distance attack?" I asked.

He hesitated. "If such a thing _is_ truly endless…yes. Well…it depends on the type of attack. But as the runes would be reinforced past a normal level, and would be much stronger…it _could_ possibly stop a Jupiter Cannon, though it's highly doubtful."

"Not an Etherion blast?" I asked.

"Absolutely not, no."

I hesitated before continuing. "What if the runes were set to not only block the blast, but also absorb it, or reflect it?"

Freed stared at me for several seconds before he went back to his notes, scribbling and muttering to himself.

Finally, he stopped.

"I don't know," he said. "It's always possible it could overload, which would just maximize the explosion. However, it increases the chance of stopping a Jupiter Cannon from _extremely unlikely_ to _likely_."

I nodded, and pointed at his notes. "And the second layer?"

He nodded. "Yes, both _could_ be hooked up to this… 'infinite source'."

"Great," I said. "Now can you do it?"

He blinked at me, staring in shock.

"Do it?" he finally squeaked.

"Yeah," I said. "The sooner, the better!"

Freed found his voice. "What part of _hypothetical_ and _impossible_ don't you understand?"

Then he froze and bowed, ashamed. "I apologize for raising my voice, Ella-sama."

I sighed. "Freed, it's fine. Look, let's just say that _I know a way to get an infinite power source,_ alright? And just leave it at that?"

He stared at me, still mostly unsure of what to do.

"Please, Freed," I begged. "Trust me."

That did it. He nodded, determinedly. "I will do my best, Ella-sama! If you need me, I will be writing runes around the city!"

And then he ran off.

I breathed a sigh of relief. That was one thing out of the way.

* * *

We had already celebrated Reedus's 18th birthday, and Ur's 28th, when we reached February 2nd: Brandish's 8th birthday.

During which, Brandish (and technically Lucy) decided to spring a surprise on most of the guild.

After cake, sitting around the guild, Layla stood up. "Well, Brandish…you've told me that you would only like a certain present and that you can't tell us what it is until today. Will you tell us what it is, now?"

Brandish nodded, and everyone quieted. After all, Brandish rarely spoke up, so people tended to listen.

"Lucy and I want to start going on missions," she announced.

All was quiet before an explosion of chatter rang out. The kids were all for it, excited that Lucy and Brandish were finally joining their missions.

But Layla and Jude weren't exactly happy about it.

"Absolutely not!" Jude roared.

"Brandish!" Layla tried, shushing her husband. She turned to Brandish. "Your mother gave us responsibility for you when she went back to Alvarez. And we cannot willingly let you go into danger like this!"

Brandish pulled a letter out of her pocket and handed it to Layla. "I already got her permission."

The two adults seemed frozen before Jude ripped it open and quickly scanned it, Layla reading over his shoulder.

They exchanged looks and then stopped, turning to Brandish. "Well…" Layla said softly. "If this is what you want…you can start going on missions. But only two fighting missions a month!"

Brandish nodded, and Lucy cheered.

"Not so fast, young lady," Jude growled. " _You_ do not have _our_ permission."

"What?" Lucy cried.

"You can go when you're eight, just like Brandish," Layla told her softly.

"What?" Jude spluttered.

"It's only fair, dearest," Layla pointed out.

"But…but…"

"She's going to grow up eventually," Layla said softly to him.

Jude gulped, and then slowly nodded, looking as if it pained him to do so. "Alright…starting June, you can start missions, too."

"Yay!" Lucy cheered, and the kids celebrated.

Jude looked as if he swallowed a lemon.

* * *

A few days later, before the first week of February was over, there was a different type of thunder in the rain.

Lightning is electricity striking, and thunder is the sound it makes as it parts through the rain in the air.

And because of this, we found that Laxus's electricity is _extremely loud_ in the rain. More so when he uses his _Lightning Body_.

I was at the door before he could knock.

Still, I waited for him to knock before opening the door. He stood on my front stoop, drenched in rain with a backpack slung over his shoulders.

"Can I stay with you?" he asked.

* * *

"You want to tell me what happened?" I asked, settling down next to Laxus. After getting him a towel and making him take a hot shower, I started up some hot chocolate for the two of us. I handed him a mug as he left the bathroom and took a seat on the couch.

He sighed. "It wasn't much, just…a fight with Jiji. I couldn't stay in the house anymore."

I nodded. After Ivan had been kicked out, Laxus had moved into Makarov's house, and Ivan's house had been put on the market.

"Does he know you're here?" I asked.

After a sec, Laxus shook his head.

"I know you don't like it, but I need to call him."

"But-" he protested.

I held up a hand. "He's still your Grandfather, and he cares about you. He should at least get to know that you're safe. You can still stay here, though."

Laxus considered it for a bit, before nodding, albeit reluctantly.

I went to my room (to at least have the _illusion_ of privacy) and dialed up Makarov on the lacrima.

His relieved face flashed before mine, and he was grabbing at the lacrima. "Elle! Do you know where Laxus is?"

I nodded. "Yeah, he's staying here. I'm not sure what happened between you two, but you should probably let him calm down for a few days. I'll probably take him out somewhere for some training. Destroying a bunch of shit should cheer him up." I smiled.

Makarov gave a choked sound, and tried to smile. "Thank you for letting me know, Elle. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," I said, signing off the call and returning to Laxus. "You hear that?"

He nodded, not looking quite so upset anymore. "Yeah."

I nodded, nudging his cocoa closer. "You should drink a bit. It will help warm you up."

He gave a wry smile. "I'm a dragon slayer, Elle. Porlyusica says that I run at a higher temperature than normal humans."

I shrugged. "Doesn't mean you can't get cold. Drink your cocoa."

"You know I run steady at about 102 F, right?"

I glared at him. "Drink your cocoa."

His smile widened, and I took some solace in the fact that I was able to cheer him up a bit, even if it was by teasing me.

* * *

I couldn't sleep last night, and from the looks of it, neither could Laxus. Though I had (eventually) managed to get back to a good rhythm after returning from the North, having Laxus in the room right next door seemed to throw things off again.

"Are we going to be going camping?" Laxus blurted during breakfast.

I looked up from my banana. "Hmm? What do you mean?"

"I mean, when you mentioned some training and destroying things," he muttered. "I…was wondering if we'd go camping again."

I smiled at him. "If you want me to break the tent out again, that's fine."

He smiled back. "Good."

* * *

Laxus had a lot of pent up rage, apparently, and I was overexerting myself simply trying to repair the forest. We quickly lost track of the amount of trees felled, and there's a whole section of Fiore's mountains that, despite what I would like to think, would probably never be the same again.

It was four nights in that he finally told me.

"I got in a fight." He was lying next to me, outside, looking up at the stars. "With Jiji," he clarified.

I wanted so desperately to ask him what it was about, but I knew better, and so held my tongue. He wouldn't bring it up if he wasn't going to talk about it.

I also wanted to say _I figured_ as well as many other sarcastic things, but it wasn't the time.

"I was in town the other day," Laxus continued. "And I overheard some people talking about the next generation of Fairy Tail – _our_ generation – and they mentioned me."

He bit his lip and I reassuringly ran my fingers through his hair.

Well, it was reassuring to me. I don't know what it did for him.

"They were wondering why I wasn't S Class," he continued in a low voice. "And…they mentioned about how I would 'no doubt' be one of the strongest wizards of the generation." He let out an angry huff. "'After all, he _is_ Makarov's grandson.'" He mimicked one of them, and I could see the pain on his face.

"Laxus," I said. "While it's true that they expect a lot from you because you're 'Makarov's grandson' they also expect a lot from you because of what they've seen so far. After our debut with the Grand Magic Games…we've caused quite a stir."

He gave a bit of a dejected nod.

"They probably _do_ expect more from you than the rest of us, because of your lineage," I said. "Well…Lucy, Ultear and Cana have special lineages, too. But now it's gone hand in hand. It's not surprising you can do this 'because' you're Makarov's grandson."

"Where are you going with this?" he asked in a dejected tone.

I smiled at him. "We're going to practice, and train hard, to the point where we go beyond that. Someday, Laxus, we'll be more powerful than Master. Both of us, and I'm not talking about together. Someday, people will look at Makarov Dreyar and go 'Hey, that's Laxus's grandfather!'"

Slowly, Laxus gave a nod, starting to smile. "Alright. Let's do it."

"Side by side?" I asked.

"Side by side."

* * *

The next several days were rough, but good. Laxus and I spent the whole time sparring, just going as long as we could against one another, and it was honestly exhausting, in a good type of way. Like that feeling when you finally get in a good run after leaving it alone for so long.

Both magically, and physically, we were exhausted, and at the end of the day, we'd collapse on our fluff together and just relax. It was nice.

And Laxus got happier, and prouder of himself, which was what I had hoped for, really. In the original timeline, Laxus hadn't fought with Makarov over this until he was much older, during which he mentioned that 'maybe he should just run away and join his dad's guild'.

But _this_ Laxus would never get to the point where he'd consider that, and so it was good.

We finally returned after a few weeks, and Laxus stepped forward to apologize to Makarov.

I'm not sure what exactly was said, but it ended with them both in tears and happy with each other, so it was fine.

And _this_ was when the stupidity started, though it happened behind my back.

* * *

"You _what_?" Lyon asked.

"I want to start a band!" Erigor repeated. "A boy band! Like those things Elle has mentioned!"

"Why?" Gray asked.

"She's talking about missing songs from her old world, because they don't record well – we can sing them for her! And dress up, and do concerts…"

The other boys exchanged glances as Erigor continued rambling.

"Why would we do this?" Bickslow asked. "What parts would we even have?"

"I would be the lead singer…" Erigor mused. "Laxus will be electric guitar."

Laxus looked up from his SoundPod, which he had been scrolling through. "Excuse me?"

"You're a lightning mage, you'll be fine!" Erigor waved off. "It's called _electric_ guitar."

"I don't think that's how it works…" Nab muttered. He was ignored.

"Yes, but I don't understand the point," Freed said.

"It's simple, really, it's for b-" Erigor paused and looked at them, before slyly looking at Laxus. "It will impress girls. _Especially_ Elle."

Laxus gave him a look, but didn't say anything.

Apparently, though, that sold it for Freed. "Alright, what will I do?"

"Woah, you're actually going to go through with this?" Gray asked.

"I'm in," Lyon said.

"Lyon!" Gray yelled.

"What?"

"You're serious? You're actually going to do this?" Gray asked.

Lyon nodded.

Erigor smirked, before saying, "Well, I'm not surprised Gray is too much of a chicken to do it. But I knew I could count on you, Lyon."

"Fine!" Gray yelled. "What is it you want us to do?"

"Are they even going to ask us if we want to join?" Nab asked Bickslow.

Bickslow shrugged. "Nah, don't really care anyway."

"Great!" Erigor said. "Since we're going to be using our magic with this-"

"Wait, what?" several voices chorused, but he continued.

"-we're going to be doing some different things. As I said, I'm lead singer, and I can use the wind to amplify my voice. Laxus is electric guitar, Freed can do sound effects. Bickslow, you're on drums."

"Cool," he said, waggling his tongue, which was nearly past his chin.

"Let's see…Nab, can you do things?"

Nab looked at him blankly, before sighing. "There are some tribal instruments I could do…I think Enno's got some woodwinds somewhere…"

"Cool, you're on flutes," Erigor continued, ignoring Nab's 'I don't know if it's a flute' comment. "Who am I missing?"

"Us?" Lyon asked, gesturing between himself and Gray. Obviously, this really interested him, and he seemed happier that Gray was joining in.

"What can you do with your ice?" Erigor asked.

"Oooh!" Lyon said eagerly. "We can make cool sounds and use our ice to make them echo and stuff! And I'd like to maybe sing a bit too."

"Awesome!" Erigor shouted, pumped up. "Now we just need to learn some of those songs by Elle's birthday."

Laxus sighed. This was going to be the troublesome part.

He really didn't know how he had gotten himself into this.


	55. A Birthday Bash

**I'm sorry this took so long, I wanted to make sure that next chapter was outlined enough that you wouldn't need to wait super long for it.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter Fifty Five - A Birthday Bash**

While all of the idiotic boys in my guild were being stupid in late February (something I probably should have caught on to, considering how quiet it was), I decided to visit the Royal Family, especially since I wasn't as busy as I was last year.

"Ellie-nee, Ellie-nee!" Hisui cried, running for me (having adopted Lucy's nickname for me).

It was only a little over two months since I had last seen her, but still….she had grown.

Hard to believe she would be two in less than half a year.

"Hey, Hisui!" I said, scooping her up. She was getting a lot better at her motor skills, that was for sure. She was certainly running better.

"It's good to see you, Elle," Ame said softly, smiling at me. She was looking pretty well, though I noticed she moved a bit slower than one normally would.

I couldn't help wondering if we healed everything.

I hope we did. I'd check with Phoenix later.

And then a few hours later, after sharing the story of Snow White with Hisui (having caught their attention because of Lucy's words), another problem arose.

"You want me to what?" I asked.

"I think it would be a great idea!" Toma said happily.

I stared at the Queen. "Ame, I couldn't do that! It would be stealing!"

"Then give all the profits to charity," Ame said, shrugging. "I think it would be a good idea."

And that's what brought us here.

* * *

"No, that's not what I'm saying," I said, sighing for the umpteenth time.

"I understand the concept, but how would we 'stream' to the lacrima modules?" the man asked.

I sighed, once more. "Okay, the Magical Council has the Etherion, right?"

The man nodded, still confused.

"It's done through _satellites_ ," I said.

He was still confused.

"So you stream it with satellites!" I was practically yelling now.

"Ohhhhhhh!" the man said, finally understanding

You see, Ame wanted me to share the stories (like Disney) with everyone, which lead to not only movies, but this world's versions of television.

At first I felt kinda bad about stealing someone's idea, because I know that eventually, this world get TVs, but I found out that someone already patented the idea and they were going to help building the televisions.

The creator got 30%, I got 5%, the builders got 50% and the sellers got 15% of the profits.

The money I got would go to charity.

Especially considering that I have absolutely no idea who it was who made TVs in my world in the first place, so…

The second thing we were doing was mass producing movies.

First, they were all recorded and stored so they could be streamed via satellites.

Honestly, making channels were the easiest part of it.

And then, we made this world's version of a DVD player.

And this was how Cana got rich.

First, I would get money off the profits for making the movies – even though they were really just my memories – and then Cana would get rich because we stored all of the memories on her Memory Cards, which I had her patent before this.

Honestly, I'm surprised by how many laws from my original world carried over to here.

After all, most of Mashima's rules are a little screwy, or just not all there.

In addition to that, I had her create another type of card which could be used to store people's own memories, for home movies and videos and stuff, and could be played by a version of a DVD player (except it played cards) that Freed created.

And so Cana and Freed ended up getting really really rich.

Enough so that Cana, at least, would probably never had to go on a job if she had to, but she still decided to continue going on jobs, after saving around 75% of her money and giving the rest to charity, like me.

Freed decided to save all of his for now.

With this came the creation of better cameras, in order to film and stream _live_.

And then I was done.

It took awhile to finish the prototypes, so much so that I had to visit Laki and Max for their ninth and eighth birthdays. We also celebrated Makarov's seventy-ninth, Gray's ninth, and Gildarts's thirty-sixth birthday.

I actually managed to finish up the prototypes before Juvia's eighth birthday, (fucking finally) because I'd let the workers handle the rest now that they understood what was going on. I also created a market for movies and shows by talking to a few fictional authors and some people who _really really_ liked the non-circluar lacrima cameras which were already used for pictures (because someone with common sense decided it would be stupid to try and take pictures with a ball).

And I sort of created a whole job market – Fiore's own Hollywood.

Oops.

But also not really my problem anymore.

* * *

I had originally suggested creating another version of Fantasia to happen in April, where we could stage fights and battles and make a festival.

Except they postponed that because they wanted my help, and I didn't get the memo that I was in charge of it.

So because I was so busy with Fiore's Hollywood, we weren't able to do our 2nd Fantasia.

Or 1st Fantasia, considering that April is before October…

So that was put off for _another_ year.

And then my twelfth birthday came, and this is when things started getting stupid.

Laxus had been listening to my music for months, and had asked me which songs I liked best, and so I made him a playlist - or rather, a handful of Memory Cards to listen to.

And then my birthday was upon us.

* * *

"Good morning Ellie-nee!" came a lot of shouting, and my bed shook as if someone was jumping on it.

I woke up, rubbing sleep from my eyes. "Lucy? What are you doing here?"

"It's your birthday, and we need to celebrate!" she shouted happily, springing around and collapsing on top of me, trying to hug me. "Especially since we didn't get to do it last year!"

I yawned and stretched. "Alright Lucy, but I need to get changed first."

"You need to look nice and pretty!" Lucy told me, bouncing off of the bed.

I had no doubt that she would make me turn back around and change if she didn't like what I was wearing, so I pulled out the dress from the royal ball. Even though it was from over a year ago, it still fit pretty well, and it was mostly the accompanying jewelry that made it so fancy.

"How do I look?" I asked her, stepping out of my room.

She hustled me over to the center of the room and walked around me, inspecting my dress.

And then she whipped out a key. " _Virgo!_ "

I blinked.

Lucy was already shortening her spells?

Spells work in an odd way. Not only do they give a focus, but they also help by gathering Ethernano to convert into magic. Generally, the longer a spell is, the more powerful it is, which is why Gildarts always says the entirety of his _Absolute Heaven_ and _Empyrean_ spells, verses his regular crush spells. It's also why _Urano Metria_ and Fairy Glitter is so long, and why the Dragon Slayer Secret Arts also have multiple parts to them.

But, as time goes on, most spells can be shortened or done away with altogether. Gildarts has stopped using ' _Crush_ ' and is instead simply casting it, because he's refined it enough times. Makarov doesn't have to say anything to use most of his powers (like his Titan Magic), but he has to speak the spell to cast Fairy Law. Laxus, during the Grand Magic Games in the original timeline, defeated Raven Tail without using most of his spell incantations.

The fact that Lucy was able to summon them like that is impressive. Speaking of which…

"Lucy?" I asked her. She looked at me as Virgo circled me and started messing with the back of my dress.

"Yeah, Ellie-nee?" Lucy asked curiously.

"Have you tried summoning any of your spirits without their keys?" I asked. Virgo's tampering paused.

"I'm not just talking about shouting their names, or asking Corvus and Phoenix to come out," I continued. "I mean, for instance, putting one of the keys in my bedroom and trying to summon them out here."

Lucy frowned, and Virgo went back to her tampering. "I'm not quite sure, Ellie-nee." Holding up Virgo's key, she studied it intently. "Keys don't only open the door, but they also lead us _to_ the door. The way you can call out Corvus and Phoenix by calling their names would be like standing outside an apartment place and shouting really really loudly, and hoping they come out to meet you on your own."

"Okay," I muttered, thinking. "But can you open doors without a key?"

She looked a bit thoughtful, and I realized she'd be eight in exactly a month - and that today, my twelfth birthday, marked my third year anniversary of entering this universe. "As long as I could get to the place and find the right door, I might be able to break it down. I just don't know how to get there."

Virgo's tampering stopped, and she moved to face us. "I am finished, Elle-sama and Hime-sama," she said, before pausing. "If I may make a suggestion?"

"Sure," I shrugged.

"Astral Projection," Virgo said. "I believe it is possible to visit the Celestial World through the Astral Plane by astral projecting."

"That's a theory," I muttered, before turning to Lucy. "Think you're up for practicing astral projection?"

"I don't know how," Lucy said, shrugging.

"It is much like meditation, Hime-sama," Virgo said. "But you follow the flow of outside magic, not inside magic."

That made sense, actually. If meditation was pulling in Ethernano and using it to fill the magical container, if one got into a completely meditative state and followed where the Ethernano was coming from…

I made a note to look it up later, as Lucy jumped at me. "Come on, Ellie-nee, we need to go to the guild!"

Virgo nodded, and said, "Happy Birthday, Elle-sama," before disappearing in a golden flash as Lucy dragged me out the door.

* * *

I'm still not quite sure what exactly it was supposed to be, but there was (what seemed to be) a makeshift stage in the center of the guildhall. There were even curtains closing it. Everyone else, with the exception of the boys, were currently gathered in the hall.

Lucy dragged me into the guild, and Layla met me on the way in, hugging me. "Happy Birthday, Elle," she said quietly.

I relaxed into her hug, tension bleeding from my shoulders, feeling like I was flying in a heaven for hugs. "Thanks, Layla," I replied.

There was more welcoming from the rest of the guildmembers and I ended up with a seat right in front of the stage.

"What's this about?" I asked.

"It's part of your gift!" came several echoing voices, reverberating around the room.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," someone announced, and I recognized it as Erigor. "We present to you…. EXTREME AWESOMENESS!"

The curtains started to part.

"More like EXTREME ASSHOLES!" Cana yelled.

"Fuck you, Cana!" several voices yelled. The curtains parted, revealing all the missing boys, all covered in punk clothes and eye liner and…well, looking exactly the same, for Erigor.

"You know it's boys only!" Lyon yelled.

"Don't yell at my daughter!" Gildarts yelled back.

Ur slapped the back of his head. "Don't ruin this for them!"

I looked at the boys – Laxus, holding an electric guitar, Erigor in front of a mic, with Gray and Lyon also on microphones behind him. Bickslow on drums, Freed on some sort of keyboard and Nab on what looked like an ocarina.

I felt the urge to immediately bang my head against a wall.

Those idiots have created a boy band…

…and called it EXTREME AWESOMENESS.

Jeez, I was going to have to go over band names with them.

"One, Two, Three, Four!" Bickslow started and the music started up. I was surprised enough to recognize it, almost instantly.

 _"IIIIIIIIIIIII've got those Jet Pack Blues, just like Judy; The kind that makes June feel like Septemberrr…..I'm the last one that you'll everrr…..rememberrr…"_

I nearly started to cry.

Cana's memory cards were impressive, but they couldn't solely record sound. And we've been unable to convert them onto SoundPods. Because of this, I can only listen to my old music if I record the memory and then replay it, and it just isn't the same. Not like how it was before, when I could plug in headphones and get lost in the music streaming between my ears. It sounded distorted and unclear.

But this…they were actually doing a good job, and Erigor had a pretty good voice, one I would align with Patrick Stump and Brendon Urie.

They followed the song with several others I loved, some popular, and some not. Like Believer, from Imagine Dragons, to Lighthouse by the Hush Sound (which made them look ridiculous multiple times, because they dressed like a punk band and were almost certainly not singing punk music).

And when they were just about over, Laxus stepped up, and took the mic from Erigor.

He gulped, smiled at me (though it looked sort of strained) and said, "Happy Birthday, Elle."

" _Ohhh...Ms Belieeeeveeeerrr...my...pretty sleeeeeeeeepeeeer_

 _Your...twisted mind...is like snow...on the road..._

 _Your...shaking shooooooouuuuldeerrsss...prove...that it's coooooooldeeeer_

 _Inside your head...than the winteeeeer oooof deaaaaad._

 _IIIIIIIII...wiiiiiill telllllllll youuuuu IIIIIIIIIII looooovee youuu_

 _But the muffs on yourrrrr earrrrss...will caterrrr yourr fearrrrrrss_

 _My nose and feeet aaaare...runniiing as weeee start_

 _As we travel through snow..._

 _Togeeeetheeeer weeeeeee gooooooooooooooooooo..._

 _Togeeeetheeeer weeeeeee gooooooooooooooooooo..._

 _Weeee geeet cooooooooooooldeeer_

 _as weeeeee grooow ooooldeer_

 _Weeee will waaaaaaaaaalk_

 _Soooooo muuuch sloooooooooweeeer..._

 _Ohhhhh M_ _s Belieeeeveeeerrr...my...pretty weeepeeeer_

 _Your...twisted thoughts...are like snooowww...on the rooooooof toopppps_

 _Please...take my haaand...we're in fooreign laaaaaand_

 _To traveeel throuuugh snooow..._

 _Togeeeetheeeer weeeeeee gooooooooooooooooooo..._

 _Togeeeetheeeer weeeeeee gooooooooooooooooooo..._

 _Weeee geeet cooooooooooooldeeer_

 _as weeeeee grooow ooooldeer_

 _Weeee will waaaaaaaaaalk_

 _Soooooo muuuch sloooooooooweeeer..."_

The song finished, and Laxus hopped off the stage and walked over to me. "So?" he asked, a bit breathlessly. "What did you think?"

I gave a bit of a laugh. "I think that the eyeliner doesn't really fit the song."

He blushed a bit. "It was Erigor's idea! We didn't want to wear eyeliner."

I laughed some more, and smiled up at him. "You did a great job. Did you pick the song?"

He nodded. "I thought it fit last year pretty well."

"It did. And what about the line about loving me?" I teased.

He blushed. "Well...you're my best friend. And you said you'd always be by my side, so..."

I waited for him to finish.

He looked away. "...whatever," he muttered.

I hit him. "DON'T BE A TSUNDERE AT MY BIRTHDAY PARTY!"

Everyone laughed, and the rest of the boys began to clean up the stage.

"Seriously, though...do you?" I asked him quietly.

"Of course I do, baka," he muttered.

Not exactly what I was looking for, but I'd take it.

I laughed and gave him a hug, and he (acting reluctantly) hugged me back, and I smiled into his chest, falling into his absolutely _amazing_ teddy bear hugs.

And if my smile was a bit more melancholy than usual, no one could see it.

And hey, maybe some day, someone would actually say those words to me.

* * *

 **...I'm sorry! I had to change the ending, right before I posted this and it somehow ended up really depressing.**

 **And...jeez, think about her past life, alright? When would anyone have said 'I love you' to her?**

 **So...lesson of today...go tell the people you love that you love them. Even if they already know...it's nice to be told again.**


	56. Bands and Babies

**Chapter Fifty Six - Bands and Babies**

The rest of the party was great, and I absolutely loved it. The boys also asked for more songs, and I told them that I'd give them more as long as they gave credit when due and changed the band name.

"What's wrong with EXTREME AWESOMENESS?" Erigor asked, pouting.

" _Everything_ ," I had said.

And there was some grumbling, but we agreed to meet up the next day to go over band names.

* * *

It should not be that hard to find a good band name.

And some of the ideas were admittedly good, but some were absolutely horrible.

"How about Imagining Awesomeness?" Erigor asked.

I sighed. "Stop it with the 'Awesomeness', please."

"What about Fade to Black?" Lyon asked.

"I'd prefer Fade to White," Erigor said.

"What about Fade to Gray?" Freed suggested. "As a compromise."

Everyone looked at Gray, who shuddered and said, "No way."

"Fade to Silver?" Bickslow asked.

"Nahhh, that sounds stupid," Erigor complained.

"And my dad would get a big head," Gray muttered.

"What about Monsters Under the Bed?" Nab asked.

"Too childish," Erigor sighed.

"What about Between the Lines?" Freed said quietly.

I paused. "That's a pretty good one."

And so I wrote it down.

"What about Out of Control?" Bickslow asked.

Erigor sat up from where he laid, sprawled out on the couch in his apartment, where we were meeting. The rest of us were deigned to the floors. "What about Out of the Chaos?"

Lyon 'hmmed'. "What about instead, it's Chaos Climbing?"

"How about Creating Chaos?" Laxus suggested lazily.

"Those are pretty good," I said, adding them to the list, though I was a bit surprised by Lyon's contribution. "Any other ideas?"

"How about Dead Hearts?" Erigor asked. "Or Lost Souls?"

"How about Lost Hearts?" Gray joked. "Or Dead Souls?"

Bickslow turned to him. "What the hell is a 'dead soul' supposed to be?"

Gray just shrugged.

"How about Hot Mess, like we are?" Nab muttered. He was ignored.

"How about No Evidence?" Erigor asked.

I stared at him. "You can't call it 'No Evidence'!"

He shrugged. "Fine, then how about Leave No Evidence?"

I facepalmed. "Moving on…"

"What about Losing Memories…?" Lyon asked thoughtfully. That seemed more like him.

"What about Making Memories?" I asked. "We don't want them forgetting the songs."

Nab muttered something, but it wasn't heard.

"How about Caught in the Crossfire?" Laxus asked.

I added it to the list. "That's pretty good."

"How about Screaming Cucumbers!" Nab said loudly, and sarcastically.

We all turned to him, and his shyness seemed to seep back into him. He looked away, embarrassed. "I actually have what might be a good idea, if you guys want to hear it…"

"Go for it Nab," I said.

He hesitated, and blushed a bit, before saying. "If we're just going to do covers of songs from Elle's original world, maybe we should go by 'Cloudy Constellations'. Because we're obscuring the original version?..."

"It sounds a bit fruity," Gray said.

"Shut up, Gray," Lyon and Erigor said together.

"How do the rest of you feel about it?" I asked.

"I like it!" Erigor proclaimed.

There were nods of agreement around the room. I looked at them, slightly surprised about the name (though I was mostly surprised that Nab was able to stick to one name). "Do you all agree?"

They nodded.

"Then I now pronounce you as Cloudy Constellations!" I proclaimed.

It sounded like a band I would listen to, anyway.

And I tucked the list with band names into my back pocket.

Hey, you never know.

And from what I could tell from Cana's reaction at the party, the boys weren't going to be the only band around here…

* * *

I was right.

The next day I was kidnapped by the girls (with the exception of Lucy and Brandish) and pulled into Cana's room at Gildarts's house.

"We're going to make a girl band!" Cana declared.

I sighed.

Of course we were.

I managed to get out of the girl band, luckily enough, by giving them the list of names and promising to split songs between groups depending on the topic of song and the people's voices.

I don't know what name they're going to pick, and I do not care.

I'm just glad to be out of it.

I heard, at Ultear's tenth birthday party, that they managed to rope Brandish and Lucy in to the girl band idea.

Which was ridiculous because it already had every other girl in it.

I told them that they were probably better off making two bands, with the amount of girls in the guild.

Where they went from that, though, I have no clue.

* * *

June 1st, which came around pretty quickly, was filled with both excitement and sadness.

Excitement, because it was Lucy's eighth birthday and she could join Brandish and the others on missions.

And sadness because she couldn't open up another gate.

"Ellie-nee…" she said quietly.

I crouched down and hugged her. "Sweetheart, sometimes we go through ups and down. So you've hit a bump in the road – so have I. But we'll keep working on it., anyway."

I handed her a box with the keys to Musca, Chamaeleon, and Apus in it, to go with Crater, Ursa Minor, and Delphinus, which I had given her last Christmas.

She looked at me and nodded, smiling at the box as she took it and requipped it away. "Okay. Thanks, Ellie-nee."

Corvus bent down next to her. "She's right, princess. A lot of wizards hit a certain point and stop trying to get stronger because they don't think it's possible. But sometimes it just takes a little more time."

"As much as I hate to admit it, he's right," Loke piped in, glaring at Corvus, who immediately glared back. Loke turned back to Lucy. "You're already the strongest Celestial Mage in existence, Lucy, and I know you're going to get even stronger. It took you longer to get up to Phoenix's level, remember? We know you're moving up slower, but you're still moving up."

She smiled at them, and gave them both a hug…at the same time.

"Thank you, you guys!" she said happily, wrapping an arm around each of them. All the while, Corvus and Loke glared at each other over her back and tried to fight off the urge to beat the shit out of each other while their precious princess was in the way.

* * *

Things didn't really happen over the rest of the month. We celebrated Nab's eleventh birthday, and then it was time for the Grand Magical Games.

"So who's ready for this year's Grand Magical Games? It's time to pick our teams!" Makarov announced, walking into the training room. We had specifically called a meeting for this, and Brandish and Lucy had joined the party.

"Okay," I said, smiling. "…who wants to go this year?"

Brandish raised her hand. "I'd like to, Nora."

I nodded. "Anyone specifically want to sit out?"

Macao and Wakaba exchanged a look, and Enno coughed to get my attention.

"Yeah?" I asked, turning to them. "You guys want to sit out?"

They exchanged a look again.

"We think…" Macao said, speaking up. "That maybe we should start shifting the teenagers to the adult team."

"Why?" I asked, confused.

They looked at each other again.

"Maggie and Rex are going to get married," Enno finally said.

I blinked. "What?"

"Maggie and Rex are going to get married," Enno repeated firmly.

"Why?" I asked. "I mean, they're a cute couple, but it's a bit out of the blue."

"They've been secretly dating for awhile," Enno said.

"Yeah, and then Rex forgot protection," Wakaba snorted.

My eyes widened. "Maggie's _pregnant_!"

They all nodded.

"Juvia doesn't understand, Onee-sama. What happened?" Juvia asked.

"I'll explain when you're ten," I sighed, waving her away, and turning back to Macao. "What'll happen now?"

"They'll probably be leaving the guild to get settled down (though that might change with the amount of kids running around) but at the very least, neither of them will be competing," Macao said. "In addition to that, you kids are the some of the strongest wizards in the guild. I'm sure one of you will hit S-Class before Wakaba or I do."

"There are more and more of you each year," Enno commented. "And we want you all to get a chance to compete."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

They all nodded, once more.

I turned to Silver and Ur. "And you two?"

"Can we have three teams?" Gildarts asked, suddenly snickering.

I sighed, rolling my eyes. "I'll see if I can do something about that. If we get a third team, it will be Macao, Wakaba, Enno, Silver and Ur. Right?"

They all nodded. "Sure."

"Alright, who wants to compete?" I asked, turning to the kids.

The older team consisted of Me, Laxus, Erigor, Freed and Ultear with Evergreen as reserve.

The second team consisted of Cana, Lucy, Brandish, Lyon, and Gray with Juvia as a reserve.

Reedus and Nab both sat out, because they didn't want to compete. Levy also said she preferred watching the games to competing, so she'd like to sit out as well.

Bickslow was sitting out, because he still only had one soul, and I could see it was getting to him. He was feeling left behind. But Makarov and I were already monitoring all job requests that could have anything to do with a lost soul, and we haven't found anything.

And then the games were upon us.

* * *

I visited Hisui before the games started, of course, and Ame said that they were going to be watching.

"Are you sure it's safe?" I asked. Hisui would be two years old in about a month, but still... "Some of the stuff can get pretty violent."

She nodded. "There are restrictions and new rules. Make sure you guys look it over."

"Gotcha," I said. "Fairy Tail wants to know if we can enter three teams."

Her eyes widened. "Why?"

I shrugged. "It's not about winning or the title for us. It's about having fun." _And also showing off_.

She gave a small smile, and let out a giggle. "I'll have them add it to the rulebook in a small print. We haven't passed them out yet, anyway."

I giggled. Okay, I was starting to see the point in doing things like this...it was fun.

* * *

"I don't understand, Levy-san," Juvia was saying as I entered our hotel room. "What does it mean by 'Alignment'?"

"Look, Juvia-chan," Levy was saying, pointing to an alignment chart. "This has a lot to do with your personality! A lot of us fit into certain categories. For instance, Lu-chan is Neutral Good! And Elle-chan is Chaotic Good!"

Am I?

I shrugged. Nothing wrong with that.

"Hey guys, we get three teams!" I said happily. "And Ame is going to hide the rule so no one else notices!"

"See?" Levy said. "Chaotic!"

Eh. So what?

I told Team C (weird thought), and got everyone ready for the preliminaries. Our letters were organized from youngest to oldest, so the team Laxus and I were on was Team B.

And then, at midnight, as our generation stood in our hotel room, the alarms rang throughout the city of Crocus.

"Let the games begin!"

* * *

 **Fun Fact! I'm a Neutral Good, too! Sometimes I have some chaotic thoughts though...they usually all end up in my writing. :)**

 **As for Maggie and Rex, let's just say that in the original timeline they left the guild when Maggie got pregnant but now that there are so many kids running around, they won't do that.**

 **May we send up our wishes that the faithful IceHound returns to us soon. (They said this was the best Fairy Tail fanfiction they read. I didn't believe them and gave them a list of some of my favorites.) For now, however, they drift among fanfiction heaven...this was also why I was going to wait until this story was done to post a list of Fairy Tail fanfictions that helped inspire me to write this...**

 **Also, if anyone wants to see a picture of Laxus in his band clothes, or a fan drawn picture of Elle by Erza763 (thank you so much my lovely!), check out this story on Wattpad or Quotev. The previous chapter holds Laxus's, and this chapter has Elle's.**


	57. The 3rd Annual GMG

**Enough people have asked me for recommendations that I'll start putting one at the beginning of each chapter. This one won't really count, because I'm just repeating ones I've already recommended. Raising Dragons by Merble and One Word To Change The World by Agent Malkere. These are both on Fanfiction, though I believe One Word To Change The World is also on Archive of Our Own. Also, warning: neither of these are complete.**

 **I also probably won't be able to post until Wednesday or Thursday of next week. :(**

 **But, this was written quickly for XBnemesisx, but I still wasn't able to finish it in time, sorry: I hope your band competition went well :)**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter Fifty Seven – The 3rd Annual Grand Magic Games; July 1st, X775**

We all looked at each other.

"Wanna just all jump there at once?" I asked.

"Can you carry ten people?" Laxus asked.

I paused. I didn't actually know if I could carry ten people. I think the most I'd ever tried was eight, and that had been awhile ago.

"Laxus, Lucy," I said.

They both looked at me.

"Are you guys good with using your powers to get there? Like your Lightning Body, and maybe Corvus's shadows?" I asked.

"Have you tried carrying people through _Pluto's Body_?" Cana asked.

I shook my head. "No. Is everyone good with this?"

They all nodded, and Cana pulled out her cards, using them to find the location. I can't believe they still hadn't found a way to block them.

Her eyes opened, and she passed the card to me, Laxus, and Corvus, who had come out on his own.

"Everyone connected?" I asked, holding out my hands, glad I had already taken those damn bracelets off so my magic could recharge.

"We're good," Erigor said.

"Corvus? Laxus?" I asked them.

They nodded.

"Then let's do this!" I said, closing my eyes, and we teleported.

We all landed right before the finish line, and we fell into a bit of a heap.

"Rough landing?" Corvus asked, coming out of the shadow's and carrying Lucy on his shoulders.

"Lucy, you're eight!" I said, looking up at her.

She shrugged. "It's fun! And he can still carry me."

"You guys alright?" Laxus asked, coming to a stop next to me.

I nodded, observing the others as we picked ourselves off the ground. "Yeah, it seems like it's harder for me to carry more people, though…I should work on that."

"We're also a lot more powerful, Ella-sama," Freed commented. "Maybe our strength in magic makes it harder to shift us."

I blinked, considering it, before shaking it off, though it would certainly explain some of Mest's difficulties in the future... "Nice theory, but not the time. Alright guys. Team A is first."

"Why?" Laxus asked.

"Because Lucy arrived before you did," I said, shrugging.

He let it go. We didn't really care, anyway.

Team A strolled out the door and across the line, and after a few seconds, we followed.

The gong rang out once, and then again twice.

"And the first two spots have been taken, everyone! Remember, that means that there are only six spots remaining!"

"Six?" Lucy asked.

"They must have raised it," I muttered. "Since they've let each guild submit three teams."

"I wonder how long it will take the other team to get to the finish line," Laxus muttered.

Not long, it seemed, because the door burst open again and our other team crossed the finish line.

"Hey guys!" I waved at them.

"Haha, you're late!" Gray said to them.

Both Silver and Ur sent ice shards at him.

I laughed. "Come on, guys, we should get some rest before the games start later today."

* * *

"Welcome, everyone, kabo! This is Mato, and welcome to the 3rd Annual Grand Magic Games! Kabo!" Toma announced in his high pitched 'Mato' voice.

"In eighth place we have Phantom Lord, Team B, kabo!"

I frowned upon seeing them. I didn't recognize anyone, but that didn't tell me anything about them; they chose to join Phantom Lord, after all.

"In seventh place we have Blue Pegasus, kabo!" The team strode forward. They were led by Ichiya, who was still oddly (and slightly scarily) attractive.

 _Maybe it was some sort of accident?_

"In sixth place, we have Quatro Cerberus, kabo!" The team strode forward eagerly, but looked upset over their latter place.

"In fifth place, we have Lamia Scale, kabo!" Jura strode forward with the rest of his team – all of them clearly viewing him as the leader despite his status as the youngest upon them.

"In fourth place, Phantom Lord, Team A, kabo!" The team strode forward angrily – not surprising, considering that they had a lower spot. I'm sure that Ur and Silver were the triggers needed to move Fairy Tail Team C ahead of Phantom.

"In third place, Fairy Tail's oldest team! Kabo!" Mato yelled, very happily, and the crowd ate it up. Ur strode forward, leading the team, and I smirked as Aria and Sol glared at them.

"Looks like they ran into each other in the maze," I muttered to Laxus, and he snickered.

"In second place, we have…Fairy Tail! Kabo!"

Our team strode forward, and there were a lot of appreciative murmurings from my and Laxus's reappearance, as well as questioning over Ultear.

And then there was a hushed whispering as everyone seemed to realize that there was still a spot left, and that Fairy Tail already had two teams in.

I was nearly bouncing on my toes, and vibrating with anticipation.

"And in first place…we have…FAIRY TAIL! KABO!"

There was yelling and screaming and many other things. The crowd seemed very excited, most guilds seemed very mad, Goldmine and Bob seemed to be shaking their heads and laughing, and Jose Porla looked like he wanted to strangle Makarov.

I resisted the urge to cackle.

"You know, Elle," Laxus said. "You have some issues."

I shrugged.

"Ella-sama is the Master of Chaos!" Freed said proudly.

Sure, why not? I'm cool with that. Don't know if I'd call me a master yet, though...

The noise was hushed by Mato's clearing of the throat. "There was a new rule stating that each guild can put up to three teams in, if they wished, kabo!"

"What I don't understand is the point!" Jose sneered. "All it will do is bring down your overall score. It's averaged out."

"It's about having fun!" Makarov yelled. "And proving that every member in my guild can beat yours, hand down, Jose!"

"Why don't we calm down, kabo…" Mato sweatdropped. After the fight that had broken out between the judges in their first year, each one sat with the rest of their guilds with a microphone in hand. Mato and Yajima sat in the booth they previously stayed in. "You all know our guild masters…Makarov, of Fairy Tail; Jose, of Phantom Lord; Ooba, of Lamia Scale; Goldmine, of Quatro Cerberus; and Bob, of Blue Pegasus, kabo!" Mato waited for the cheering for them to die down before continuing. "And we have Mr. Yajima from the Magic Council with us again, as well as the main reporter for Sorcerer's Weekly – Jacob! And his son, Jason! Kabo!"

"This is SOOOOOOO COOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!" Jason yelled into the microphone. Even at eight years old, he was screaming.

"Jason is here to give us a view on the younger contestants participating," Yajima explained.

"Pick your contestants for the first game and we can get started, kabo!" Mato yelled.

I had already explained the difference for them. Our battle pairings weren't random – they were chosen by the audience, or specific officials – or even us, if it was approved. Because of this, we didn't know when we were going or competing, so we'd have to just guess.

Last time, we knew _when_ we would compete, but not who we were fighting against.

This time, we know neither.

"Who wants to go first?" I asked.

"Me," Laxus said. "I want to get a good game this time. Instead of _Chariots_." His face started to look queasy just thinking of it.

"Sure," I said, shrugging. Though there was no guarantee that Chariots wasn't first this time...

He ran out onto the field, and was joined by Cana and Enno. The only other participant I recognized was Aria. Everyone else looked unfamiliar.

"Today we have _Hidden_ , kabo!" Mato announced, and the large city developed on the floor. "Most of you know this game already, but I'll go over the rules for any new folks!"

While Mato explained the rules, I was laughing. "Damn, he's going to do great."

"What makes you say that?" Erigor asked.

"Not only does he have his Lightning Body to move fast, he can tell who is real and who isn't, because he's a Dragon Slayer." I smiled. "It's perfect!"

And it was. Seconds after starting, Laxus was already off, knocking out a bunch of other people (with the exception of the other FT teams).

Cana had made cards used specifically for a battlefield like this – it searches for heat signatures _unless_ they have a Fairy Tail insignia on their body and then attacks, so this striked a boat load of other points for her as she hit every other contestant.

And I was unable to stop what happened next.

" _Metsu_!" An explosive blast hit Cana from behind, and her screams ran through the air.

"Stop the games!" I screamed, teleporting onto the field.

Aria had already finished his spell and turned to his next victim, but before he could do anything to me, Laxus punched him in the face.

"What did he do?" Laxus asked.

"He drained her of magical power," I said, closing my eyes to concentrate, thankful that I had forgotten to put my bracelets back on that morning – something I hadn't even realized until now. "I can put it back, but I _can't be disturbed_."

He nodded seriously. "Got it."

"And it looks like some of the Fairy Tail members have joined everyone else on the field, after calling for a timeout!" Yajima was saying.

"SHUT UP!" Laxus roared. "We'll explain when we're done, but just SHUT THE HELL UP RIGHT NOW!"

Absolute silence.

Even Jose looked a bit scared to break it, and it made me breathe properly and close my eyes.

This was going to be difficult, I knew, but I could do it. I reached out through the sky, using Saturn and feeling out all the remnants of Cana's magic, trying to gather it.

It kept trying to fly away, but I _wouldn't let it_. I grit my teeth and tightened my grip on the magic in the wind, pulling it apart and pulling it back.

A series of gasps reached my ears and I opened my eyes to see the large glowing mass in front of me.

 _This_ was how much magic Cana had in her body?

It was amazing, and I know that I hadn't gotten all of it.

The biggest issue with this spell was the affects it had on the magical container, which is why Makarov was in such a state when he was hit with it in the previous timeline. It wasn't just draining magic from the body – it was a mix between that, and ripping out one's magical container. Eventually, it would build up again on its own, but the shock from losing it so fast is could cause Magical Deficiency Disease. And the bigger the magical container, the larger the hole left behind; which was why Makarov was nearly to the point of death.

I know I hadn't gathered all of the magic originally in Cana's body, but I'd gotten the most important pieces, and the rest would replenish on its own.

Like the liver.

(It grows back.)

Still, though, Cana would probably spend the rest of the week on bed rest, and Juvia would definitely have to compete in her place.

Taking all of the magic, I reached down and _shoved_ it into Cana, causing her body to jolt like Laxus had just zapped her.

Cana woke up with a gasp, and then she knelt over, retching.

There was the sound of a rune wall going down, and Freed let Gildarts pass to reach Cana.

"Time to answer to the wolves," Laxus muttered beside me. "Is Cana…?"

"She'll be fine, her body's just in shock," I answered, and teleported to the commentors' box, causing everyone there to jump.

"I assume you all want an explanation?" I asked, loudly enough that the microphones picked me up.

They all nodded as the audience roared. Yajima cleared his throat. "That would be much appreciated, little lady."

I nodded, and turned to Jason. "Hey, Jase, can I borrow your mic?" I asked.

"Jase?" he asked, stars in his eyes. "That's so coooooooooooooooooool!"

Jacob sighed over his son and handed me his own microphone.

"Aria performed something called _Metsu_ ," I said. "Basically, it drains someone of magical power and releases it into the air. And it can have seriously bad effects when it's used on someone. Enough so that if Jose was a decent human being and even a slightly good guildmaster, he would have forbidden Aria from using it, _especially_ in a friendly competition!"

"Hey!" Jose yelled, but I ignored it.

"I had to pull all of Cana's magic back from the air in order to return it to her. Even still, she won't be able to compete, or even safely use magic for a few more weeks." I continued. "And I had to concentrate in order to make sure that I got it. Any sort of noise would have made it more difficult."

"I see, kabo!" Mato said. "That's understandable, kabo!"

"I have a question!" Gildarts yelled up at the box.

I popped back down, taking the microphone with me. Luckily, it was detachable.

"Thanks, Elle," he said, taking it from me carefully (so he didn't break it). He cleared his throat. "I was told that we can ask to fight certain people, and request certain battles. Is that true?"

"Yes, kabo," Mato said.

He pointed at Aria. "I wanna battle him. Right now."

Yajima cleared his own throat. "Gildarts, you aren't on a team…"

Enno leaned over and plucked the microphone from Gildarts. "I relinquish my position to Gildarts."

"Sure, why not, then, kabo!" Mato said happily. "The first round was over, anyway, with Fairy Tail Teams A and B tied, followed by Fairy Tail Team C, and the Phantom Lord Team A. Everyone else is tied for last, kabo!"

"Dad, you don't have to-" Cana said.

"I want to," he said angrily.

She looked at him, and then nodded.

"Please, clear the field, kabo!" Mato commanded.

The rest of us returned to the sidelines, and I popped back up to the box and handed the microphone back to Jacob.

"Do you guys have any runes built into the stadium for structural safety?" I asked.

Mato nodded. "Of course! Kabo!"

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Good."

I turned back to the mic and shouted. "Attention all parents, I would _not_ let little ones watch this battle."

"Thank you, Elle," Mato said as I left.

"No problem," I said, popping back to the rest of my team. After all, if Ame and Hisui were actually watching...

"I'm confused on why Dad wanted to do this," Cana muttered worriedly. "Will he get in trouble?"

"He did this specifically to _not_ get in trouble," I said.

"What?" she asked.

"Elle is right," Ur said, the adult team joining us. "You see, guild members aren't allowed to attack members from other legal guilds. By fighting here, in the competition, he can get away with beating the shit out of Aria, rather than just beat him up another time."

"I see," Freed commented. "Quite an ingenious move, really."

"So if we ever want to not get in trouble, we just challenge them to a competition in the Games?" Laxus asked.

"You need to get the battle approved first," I said. "But basically, yeah. If you have a vendetta or need to beat the shit out of someone, save it for here, and you won't really get in trouble. Well…it depends on the level you go to."

"From Phantom Lord, Team A, we have Aria! And from Fairy Tail Team C, we have Gildarts! Let the battle commence, kabo!"

I winced as the gong went off.

Before Aria could do anything, he was already on his knees as Gildarts released his magical power, the immense pressure coming from the man making it hard to stand. In fact, with the exception of Jura, no one else from another guild (other than the Masters) could stand, and even Jura had difficulties with it as well.

Of the group of us, the only ones on their feet were me, Laxus, Brandish, Cana, Lucy, and Ur. And Ur was the only one standing up straight like it was fine.

After Ur, Lucy seemed to be having the easiest time of it. Laxus and I were still standing because we were supporting each other. Brandish and Cana were barely up.

Aria was streaming tears, but it did nothing to stop Gildarts's approach.

" _Crushing Evil, Spreading the Truth: ABSOLUTE HEAVEN!"_ he roared.

And that was how we broke the Domas Flau.

And got the 3rd Annual Grand Magic Games cancelled.


	58. Jet

**Recommending Celestial Being on Fanfiction by Lucy Heart of Fairy Tail. Another one uncompleted, but I still love this one to bits! Also, part of the inspiration for Elle's kidnapping routine came from this.**

 **New poll up on my Fanfiction profile, check it out! Sorry about the wait, too, I had a bit of a busy week.**

 **And thank you, EdenAngel7 for pointing out that cheating douchebags get disqualified, and to Valerie6636 for pointing out Ultear.**

* * *

 **Chapter Fifty Eight - Jet**

So, we won the games. Technically.

Because of the points that were scored in the first round, Fairy Tail ended up winning.

The money we got from it, though, went right back into creating a new stadium, complete with new runes built into it to stop it from becoming a complete and utter disaster a second time. Next year, the stadium would be good, and Gildarts would actually be allowed to compete.

Not that he was going to.

Ultear actually offered to rebuild the stadium with her Arc of Time (even though it would take a month or more, with her current power range), but they turned it down, saying that they'd rather have a stronger stadium impervious to the elements and 'Fairy Tail's destructive tendencies' anyway.

Makarov wasn't too happy about that. Though, I don't know if it's because we didn't get the prize money or because they cited us as a main reason to build a stronger stadium - even if it was true.

Phantom Lord was also disqualified for three years, which was cause for celebration alone. I'm also pretty sure that Aria was blacklisted from most jobs - basically, if he ended up accepting a job and they didn't want him, he wouldn't be able to do it.

He did seriously harm a child on public television - the Grand Magic Games was the first thing _live_ thing they aired.

So (after apologizing profusely to Toma and Ame - who weren't that upset, seeing as they _had_ tried to make the stadium pretty strong (Gildarts was just stronger)) we returned to the guild hall.

Levy's eighth birthday was once again pretty simple, and we spent time rummaging through the library, learning things. Laxus, oddly enough, spent most of his time in the non-magical section of the library, studying the human body. When I asked him what for, he just shrugged and said, "I'm interested."

I let it be after that, but it did seem kinda suspicious...

And for Cana's ninth birthday, Gildarts finally agreed to have _Urano Metria_ cast on him if Lucy didn't use Gemini or any Star Dress.

And he actually held up pretty well against _Urano Metria_. He fell to his knees, and was having trouble standing and was definitely bruised up, though Lucy looked a bit disappointed it didn't do anything more.

But it was the last week of July when one of my cards' distress signal went off.

* * *

I accidentally popped into a burning house, and quickly popped outside, where I spotted Jet trying to hide under a bush.

"Hey, kiddo, want to tell me what happened?" I asked. He looked around seven or eight.

His eyes widened as he looked at me. "You're the girl on the LS!"

I frowned. "LS?"

"Yeah, Lacrima-Screen! You were in the GMG earlier this month, right? You saved that one girl! Does that mean you'll help?"

 _Alright, note to self, find a way to make them call it TV_.

I did technically come up with the damn thing.

"That's why I'm here," I said. "But you need to tell me what happened."

He took a deep breath and nodded. "Today was my friend's birthday party, but I was sick and had to stay home with my parents and uncle and aunt. My cousin got to go to the party, and can we pick him up, too? He won't have anywhere to stay because…"

At this, he trailed off and started to panic.

 _Fuck, I think it's finally setting in_.

"Hey, BREATHE," I yelled, shaking him. "Come on kid, you need to breathe! Take a deep breath. Like me."

I stopped yelling and took a deep breath before releasing it, and I noticed Jet calming down.

"You need to do it with me, alright?" I asked. "In, and out."

I breathed in and he mimicked me, finally completely calm.

The breathing helped calm me down too, because I'm not exactly an expert on how to help panicking kids.

…

I feel like there's a 'yet' in there.

I don't want it in there.

Someone get it out.

"Now," I said. "I know this is going to be hard for you, but you need to tell me what happened."

He nodded. "I was playing a game with my Ma and Da, and we decided to invite my Aunt and Uncle over. Halfway through the game, these people started trying to kick down the doors. Ma hid me, in a secret closet, and went back to help them fight. I couldn't really see what happened, but when the people left…" He started to tense up again.

"Breathe!" I reminded him.

He stopped talking and took a deep breath with me.

"There you go," I said. "Continue."

"My family…" Jet said quietly. "They're all…"

Instead of having a panic attack like he seemed to earlier, now a weight of realization fell on him and he dully repeated, blinking back tears, "…they're all dead."

"Not all of them," I pointed out. "You said you had a cousin, right?"

Jet nodded. "Yeah, his name is Droy. I wonder what we're going to do now…"

I absentmindedly shook my head. Just how many people in the guild were connected beforehand?

"You're going to come with me," I said. "And join our guild."

"What?" he asked. "But…but I don't know magic!"

I smiled at him. "You're going to learn. Droy, too."

I turned back to the house, and closed my eyes. " _Wave of Neptune!_ "

A splash of water doused most of the fire on the house, though for all I know, there could still be smaller fires inside.

"Come on," I said. "We'll take anything salvageable from the house."

"What does that mean?" Jet asked as he walked next to me, into the house. I took off my bracelets and requipped them away.

"Salvageable means…savable. If we can save it…even if we need to repair it…that would count as salvageable."

Jet froze as he saw the bodies.

 _Shit, you idiot!_

"Jet, go upstairs, and go over what you can save. Grab any money, too."

"But what about…?"

"I'll take care of them," I said softly. "I'll make sure they get a proper burial, and such."

Jet made his way upstairs and I sighed.

I had no idea what I was doing.

I hadn't even seen a dead body before.

Not even my own.

...

Putting the thought out of my mind:

 _…the props on this movie set are really realistic…_

I grabbed some ragged blankets and continued over to the bodies. The blankets weren't salvageable for Jet, but they would work for what I had in mind.

I slid light from Venus underneath the bodies and solidified it, before lifting all of them up in the air and putting them together like one giant moving block of wood (with four bodies on it). Then I took the blankets and covered the bodies, and I peeked my head out the door and looked at a few of the buildings, finally spotting the sign for a hospital a few streets away.

Hospitals have a morgue, right?

"Jet, I'll just be a minute or two, but I'll be right back!" I shouted.

There was silence, and then… "You promise you'll come back?"

"Yeah, I promise," I said.

"Okay then," he said.

I took the board with all of the bodies and teleported right outside the hospital, where I opened the door and made my way inside.

"Hello, I have some bodies…" I said slowly, before facepalming at the way everyone stared at me.

"Let me explain," I said. "I was in the neighborhood and spotted a house on fire, and a kid outside. Using my magic, I put out the fire and gathered the bodies so I could bring them here and have a proper burial. Jet needs to be able to walk through his house without seeing his family's bodies."

"You disturbed the crime scene!" a man shouted.

I paused. "Oh…I did. No worries, though, I can use magic to track these guys down...eventually."

"I _should_ put you in jail," the man grumbled, I noticed the symbol of the Rune Knights on his shoulder, though he wasn't in the full standard uniform.

"Don't worry, I'll find these guys, alright?"

"What's your name?" he said.

"Eleanor Rigby, the Fairy Tail guild," I said, pulling off my jacket and showing him my mark.

The man sighed, grumbled something I couldn't hear, and threw his hands up into the air. "Fine. But you better bring me those bandits, missy. _And_ find proof they did the crime."

"Would a confession from them count?" I asked.

"Of course it would," he said.

"We'll be fine," I said, waving an arm.

I'm sure if I hit them enough times they'll confess.

"Thank you very much, but I need to go now, I told Jet I wouldn't leave him alone for long. Goodbye."

I popped back into Jet's house, and he hurriedly stood up from a couch that he probably shouldn't have been sitting on in the first place. "Ellen-nee!"

I froze, blinking at him. " _Ellen_?"

He nodded eagerly. "I just realized that my Ma has the same name, so I'll call you Ellen-nee."

"Of…course you will," I managed with a straight face.

Ellen might be even worse than Nora, and Lena. _Combined_.

"Did you gather your things?" I asked, with the least amount of strained voice as possible.

Jet nodded and he lead me upstairs, where I requipped most of his bedroom, as it hadn't really been effected by the flames, yet.

"There's a little smoke damage for a few of these things," I said, as I requipped them away. "But we should be able to fix that."

He nodded and showed me the safe, which he luckily knew the code to. I put most of the money physically on Jet, because it would reassure him, whether he knew it or not.

He had just lost almost all of his family, and was putting all of his trust in me. Even if I ran off with all of his stuff, he would at least have some Jewel on him, which would help him survive.

So even if _he_ didn't understand the significance of it, _I_ did.

When the house was just about done and emptied, I locked it up, and cut the power, taking Jet outside.

After I got Jet and Droy situated in Fairy Valleys, I would come back here and clean out all of the damaged stuff, as well as put up FOR SALE signs.

"Do you know where the party is?" I asked him.

He nodded.

"Good," I muttered. I looked around at the rest of the neighborhood. Jet's house wasn't the only one hit. I had paid more attention to the bodies than my surroundings earlier, but now that I took it in, this half of the neighborhood was absolutely destroyed.

"Where is everyone?" he asked.

"I don't know," I replied, looking around warily. I bit my lip. Simply using Wave of Neptune over and over again would tire me out, with the amount of houses - though it was only a few of them that were on fire.

I sighed, and concentrated on Mars, pulling the fires out of the houses and bringing them to one closer. The damage on that house would be worse, but it would let me put them out quicker. Once the fire was only on that house, I let go of Mars and summoned a humongous wave. Within seconds, the fire was out, and I was panting a bit.

"Wow," Jet muttered. He tugged on my sleeve. "Ellen-nee?"

"Yeah?" I asked.

He looked over and pointed at a different house. "Can we see if my friend is okay?"

I bit my lip. If there were more bodies inside, I didn't want Jet to see them, but I didn't want to leave him out here alone.

"If you promise to keep your eyes covered, we can check," I said.

He nodded and held his hands over his eyes, though he was peeking through them.

"No peeking," I said, and I gently took his shoulder and lead him to the house.

The door creaked open upon touching it, and I peered in to immediately see bodies of adults, though there was certainly sign of a struggle involved - whether it was Jet's friend or the dead adults, was another question.

"You said your friend lived here?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"How old is he?" I asked.

"My age."

I slowly lead him away from the house. "I'll see if I can help find him, but he's not here right now, Jet. But I'm going to stay in contact with some of the town officials, and I'll have them contact me if they find him, alright?"

Jet nodded sadly.

We continued walking, several blocks over, and Jet squeezed my hand a little tighter.

"How old are you?" I asked Jet.

"I'm nine," he said. "I turned nine in June."

"And Droy?" I asked.

"He'll turn nine in September…" Jet said quietly.

They were both the same age as Cana and Gray, then.

Jet seemed more nervous, and his squeezing got almost painful.

I stopped walking and turned to him.

"Jet," I said softly. "I can break the news to Droy, if you want me to."

Jet looked down, shame on his face.

"You don't need to be ashamed," I said, lifting his chin and rubbing his hair. "It's okay if you don't want to be the bearer of bad news."

He nodded, and started to cry.

I hugged the little boy as he started sobbing into my chest. "Shhh, it's okay," I told him quietly.

"No it's not…" he sobbed. "They're _gone_."

"'Okay' doesn't always mean what we think it means," I said quietly. "It's not a good situation to be in, Jet, but _you're okay_. Droy is here for you, I'm here for you, and the rest of my guild will help you too. You'll be able to move on from this, eventually. This is _survivable._ "

He let out another sob, but it also seemed like his breathing got more even.

"I don't know your parents," I continued. "Or your aunt or uncle. But I want you to think about what they would say. Because I doubt they'd want you to stay still like this."

Jet nodded again, and his sobbing died down.

"What would they say?" I asked him.

"My Da would tell me to stop being a pussy and to go get Droy."

I sweatdropped. With language like that, Jet would fit right in.

"My Ma would slap my dad, and smile at me, and tell me to go start our new adventure."

He looked up at me. "But…I'm a bit scared to start a new adventure…"

"That's perfectly normal," I said. "Bravery isn't the same as being fearless. It's being scared _and doing it anyway_. But you're not going to be alone, whether you take this adventure or not."

Slowly, he nodded, grabbed my hand, and started pulling me to the place Droy was at.

"Well, Ellen-nee..." he said determinedly. "Let's go. We've got an adventure to start."

* * *

 **Yo...Jet and Droy are joining the party! Whooo!**

 **The only reason I am okay with using the 'pussy' is because it is short for 'pussillanimous' which literally means being timid or acting cowardly.**

 **I am not okay with other type of 'language' from that sort of scenario (sexual), and if those words are ever used in this story, it will only be by douchebags who will soon get pummeled.**


	59. Droy

**Recommending Melting Hours by EXNativo on Fanfiction. Also incomplete (unfortunately). This is what helped inspire me to have someone encourage Lucy to work on holding open multiple gates. I was reading it and thinking... _yeah, but he could go to Lucy and Wendy in his free time and tell them that he has info for them to learn - like giving Lucy keys or Wendy the things Grandineey gave Porlyusica..._ and it led to where we are now.**

 **Very, _very_ funny. Almost crack!like.**

 **Also, chapter's kinda short and I apologize for anything that doesn't make sense. It's Yom Kippur so I'm still fasting and I've sort of just been typing all day. It seemed to make sense to me, but...**

* * *

 **Chapter Fifty Nine - Droy**

Droy took the news better than Jet did.

But that doesn't mean he took it well.

I never really thought of Jet and Droy much, in terms of each other. I guess I always thought they were on the same level; or even that _Droy_ seemed a bit more mature. But for now at least, it seemed as if Jet was taking responsibility as the older one and providing comfort; even if he was only older by a few months.

Droy seemed to look up to him, just a minuscule amount, which I suppose was a good thing.

Maybe he won't get fat this time around. That nearly caused him to die several times over.

* * *

We left the sleepover house, leaving behind a worried mother, who was calling everyone else's parents to see if they were alive.

They were, and that stung for Jet and Droy.

"Droy, where's your house?" I asked, leaving with the boys.

They led me through town to the other side, where it was luckily unpillaged.

"Alright," I said, on the stoop. "Do either of you have a key?"

"No," Droy muttered. "But I can get one." He walked around the house and came back with a key moments later.

"We keep it buried," he said, handing it to me.

I wiped some dirt off of it and used it to open the house.

"What do you guys want to take?" I asked them.

"Can we take everything?" Jet asked.

I shrugged. "If you want."

They took me through the house, requipping away rooms as we went. Jet stopped as we went through the Master's bedroom.

"This was my Da's," he said softly.

Droy and I turned to him, and I saw him holding the same hat he wore in the future.

"He had forgotten it here last time we were over," Jet continued in his soft tone of voice. "And uncle was supposed to bring it over with them, but he forgot it too."

"They used to joke that there was some sort of gene that made them forget," Droy added. "Since they were brothers."

I brought both of them into a hug. "Jet, the hat probably won't fit you now, but when you're older, you can wear it whenever you want."

He looked up at me. "Promise?"

I nodded. "I'll even see if we can stitch runes into it to keep it in good condition. _And_ to keep it on your head, so you don't end up accidentally losing it in a fight or something."

He relaxed and handed it to me. "Thank you."

"You can hold it if you want," I told him.

He shook his head and handed it to me. "You already have the jacket it goes with. They should be together."

I took it from him and requipped it (even if I wasn't quite sure where I put the jacket), and we continued through the house, taking everything they wanted to take – even if I didn't understand why they wanted to.

"Do you guys have everything?" I asked.

They nodded, and each had a bag filled with their most important things.

I locked up the house and shut off the electricity.

"I'll take care of both houses after you guys get settled," I told them. "Do you want me to sell them or put them up for rent?"

The boys exchanged a look, and Jet spoke up. "Can we keep this one and sell the other one?"

I was surprised by that, but shrugged. "Why not? I should probably talk to the company supplying electricity and water, so it doesn't cost so much."

They exchanged another look, and both nodded. "For now," Jet said.

"Are you guys ready to start your new adventure?" I asked them.

They nodded, and each grabbed onto the bag they were holding, before grabbing one of my hands with their free one.

And I teleported us out of there.

* * *

Jet had gone to the Rune Knights and gave them the memory of that night on one of Cana's cards. No one, even Jet himself, stuck around to watch it. I communicated with the mayor in their town, got the burnt house cleaned up and suitable (and up for sale) and made sure to ask for an alert if Jet's friend came back. Jet had created a file on his missing neighbor, and I passed that along to the Rune Knights as well.

I should have opened the file. I really should have.

But I didn't.

I also sent in a report to Toma, telling him about the incident and the lack of any sort of Rune Knights or authority (as well as the dick in the morgue, who either a) was a slacking off Rune Knight or b) someone trying to pass off as a Rune Knight). From his reply, it was easy to tell he was quite ticked off, and I really wished I could have been a fly on the wall for the council meeting he went to.

* * *

Like in the last timeline, the boys attached themselves to Levy.

I'm not quite sure what it was, but when they heard about the bandits and about how she learned magic to protect herself and to try and stop it from happening again, they threw themselves into learning their magic.

Not that they did a very good job. But they tried.

Unsurprisingly, they were leagues behind everyone else.

Unfortunately for everyone involved, they joined the boy band, which got more and more annoying over time.

Especially when Laxus's voice cracked a week later.

Which was hilarious, but caused me to panic.

* * *

I hadn't noticed, but Laxus was slowly growing over the summer, and he looked older than he was, almost like how Natsu looked at fifteen, before he lost Lisanna.

Laxus had sprouted, and was already nearly six feet tall.

And I was not right.

"Porlyusica!" I screamed, bursting down her door.

She tensed, grabbing her broom and swinging it around. "What did I tell you about bursting in here, you damn brat!"

"Porlyusica, I'm not the right size!" I yelled, waving my arms around frantically.

She paused. "What?"

"I'm not the right size, I'm too small!" I shouted.

She groaned, putting down her broom. "So you've got a delayed growth spurt, you'll grow eventually..."

"No, I mean that last time around, I was much bigger for my age!"

Porlyusica paused, and spun back around. "What?"

"Last time around," I said. "In my previous life. I could pass for maybe a fourteen or fifteen year old at this age. But instead I look younger than twelve - like I'm barely eleven. And I wasn't exactly the healthiest last time around, either. Hell, I'm pretty sure I might've been malnourished growing up; the orphanage I lived in didn't exactly get a lot of food. So why am I so much smaller?"

She glanced over me, before gesturing to the usual bed for her patients. "Sit down."

I moved over to the bed and sat.

She turned and started rifling through her potions. "Tell me, Elle, how has your Magical Overload been? Worse? Better?"

I frowned, not knowing what this had to do with anything, but went with it anyway. "I'm not quite sure. The same, I guess."

Porlyusica sighed, stopped rifling, and sat in a chair next to the bed. "Let me explain some things..."

"Magic works in an odd way. Especially if a child ends up with Magical Overload. As you know, most people decide to wait for their child to reach a certain age before they start teaching them magic, because they're scared that they might cause Magical Overload. But Magical Overload is actually quite rare."

I frowned. "It is? But I have it, Ultear has it, and didn't you say Gildarts had it?"

Porlyusica nodded. "Yes, the three of you have all had it. But can you name anyone else? Most of the children associated with the guild are younger than you were when you got Magical Overload, and they are all fine. They will likely continue to be fine, as well."

I was really confused, now. "So...what does that mean?

Porlyusica sighed. "Eventually, all mages reach a peak point where their magic is raised to an outside level - it no longer _has_ to be contained in the body. If you were to sense Gildarts, or the Ur woman's magical aura, you'd understand what I'm saying. In fact, didn't you feel Gildarts's magical power during the Games, when he took on that foolish Phantom mage? His magic has almost completely surpassed his body. And as for your Magical Overload...It would be best to ask an Aura Mage what your aura looks like in order to figure it out. But when you have Magical Overload, it means that your magic is still tied to the physical body; it hasn't moved outside, yet."

"So...what's happening to my body, then?"

Porlyusica paused. "I spent a lot of time working studying how Magic works, especially since I do not have a magical container. But, as you know, I used to be a member of Fairy Tail."

I nodded. "Yeah, you were on a team with Master, Yajima, Rob, Bob and Goldmine."

She nodded, smiling. "Yes. And I was a perfume mage, like that fellow from Blue Pegasus. I was not much help in actual battle, but when it came to healing or support magic, or any sort of research, I was usually one of the best."

I was quiet, waiting for her to continue.

"Some people end up having difficulties with their magical containers," Porlyusica continued. "And because of that, when they are young, they end up with Magical Overload. Their magic continues to grow faster than it should, and because of that, it also slows down any sort of physical growth."

I frowned. "But shouldn't it speed up physical growth, so it matches the magical growth?"

She shook her head. "It does something else, instead. The magic will focus on trying to help you adapt to the extra magic, and so, instead it will try to merge with you."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

"Cell by cell, part by part, your magic will become one with you. Once this process is done, you will have a growth spurt, and likely no longer need those bracelets of yours..." She gestured to my wrists. "But for now, it has slowed down your actual growth to concentrate on properly merging with you. This is why people who live past Magical Overload the proper way usually end up strong on different levels."

But... "In the other timeline, though, Ultear wasn't _that_ strong in the end. Not Gildarts level, or anything."

"That's why I said 'proper'," Porlyusica said. "She was tortured, deliberately releasing magic and using it in separate ways for testing purposes. While it did actively help with her Magical Overload, it will hurt her in the long run. Since you stayed her hand this time around, she will naturally become stronger, as she hadn't reached that level and still requires bracelets as you do."

I nodded, starting to understand. "So...while I could release a shit-ton of magic, repeatedly, it would technically 'cure' my Magical Overload, but I wouldn't reach my full potential?"

Porlyusica nodded. "Yes, you're starting to understand. While actively exerting large amounts of energy in the past, like when you've fought Deliora and other such instances, you've depleted it a bit, but since you haven't released most of your energy every single day, you should still be fine in the end. But right now, your magic is busy cycling through your body, merging with every part of you, and that is why you are currently unable to grow."

I sighed, finally, and released tension I didn't know I had. "Thank you. I'm glad to know it's not that serious."

"Eventually, the magically container shifts almost completely outside the body - yours is just doing so slower than usual. On the bright side, as your magic continues to merge with you, you will end up being able to withstand a lot of damage to the body."

"Thank you," I said again.

"You're welcome," she said. "Now...GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!"

She waved her broom at me, and I left.

* * *

 **Apology time.**

 **Yeah, after this chapter, I'm about 100% sure that every chapter leading up to and through the Tower of Heaven arc will end with a cliffhanger. Sorry.**


	60. Happy Birthday, Hisui

**I'm going to stop with recommendations until the cliffies are over.**

 **As for this chapter - sorry it's kinda late, but it's because it's longer than usual. You can thank Snowfire for the corpse Ellaxus angst (Quotev), and XBnemesisx for Hisui announcing Elle as a Lady at he** **r birthday party (Fanfiction). I took these base ideas from their comments and ran for it, and it made this monster. Enjoy it, guys. :)**

* * *

 **Chapter Sixty - Happy Birthday, Hisui**

A few days after Jet and Droy settled in, there was a knock on the door.

I blinked in surprise as I opened it. "Laxus?"

"What happened?" he asked.

I stared at him. "What?"

"What happened?" he asked, sounding more upset. "You've barely been by the guild. What's wrong?"

Was that true?

I thought back over the past few days. I _hadn't_ gone to the guild. Actually, after visiting Porlyusica, I sort of holed myself up in my house.

I wish I could say I didn't know why, but it's not true.

"I saw a dead body," I said.

Laxus froze, this time blinking at me. "What?"

"With Jet...I saw his parents, and Droy's parents. And they were dead. I'd never seen a dead body before...not even my own..."

At my last words, Laxus's face tightened, and he stepped inside and pulled me into a hug.

"It's understandable, Elle, but shutting yourself out isn't going to do anything but make it worse. Come by the guild."

I looked up at him (nearly a head taller than me), and nodded. "Okay."

* * *

On the last day of July, we got a letter in the mail.

Jet and Droy, naturally, were confused upon seeing it, considering it's fancy envelope and curling script.

I, on the other hand, wasn't too surprised.

Now that Ame was back, it only stands to reason she would spoil her little princess...you know, literally.

Is literally the right word in this situation? I mean, she's not making Hisui spoiled or rotting or anything, but Hisui _is_ a Princess...

Jet stared at me. "Ellen-nee? Are we really going to the Princess's Birthday Party?"

"Yes," I said.

"You know the Princess?" the two of them shrieked.

"I know the King and Queen, too," I said, rolling my eyes.

The next day, August 1st, Lucy and Brandish came into the guild. "Guess what Ellie-nee?" Lucy yelled, tackling me. "Guess what guess what guess what?"

"You got an invitation to the Princess's Birthday Party?" I asked.

Lucy's mouth dropped in shock and she jumped up and down before tackling me _again_ (which was odd because I hadn't even realized she had gotten off of me). "Oh My Stars, that's so _cool!_ Ellie-nee, how did you know that?"

"Why are you surprised by this, Lucy?" Laxus asked, coming up next to us. "She knows the future, I think we've all agreed on that by this point."

"To be fair, I didn't know this was coming," I said. "It was just a reasonable guess, considering we got an invitation too, Lucy and Brandish are still members of the guild (and the Heartfilias are pretty prominent), and the Fiore Royal Family knows that they don't spend a lot of time at the guild."

"So when do we leave?" Cana asked.

"This evening," I said. "Though I'll probably take Laxus ahead."

"Thank you," he said, starting to look green.

At least he wasn't so much of a stupid tsundere this time that he tried to cover up all of his motion sickness.

* * *

Laxus and I left that evening and arrived at the castle, where we were given attached bedrooms of part of a suite, the rest of which would be filled when the rest of the guild arrived.

"These beds are _really_ fluffy," Laxus said, flopping down on his bed. I stood in the doorway, watching him.

"Come on, compared to Aries and Cana's fluff?" I joked, flopping down next to him.

I sank down immediately.

"Okay, so maybe I changed my mind," I said.

"Does any of this seem a bit odd to you?" Laxus asked.

It was still a bit odd trying to get used to Laxus's voice - now that it had finished cracking, it had gotten a lot lower.

"Nah, the invitation seemed pretty clear."

"But they told us not to bring anything fancy," Laxus protested.

"They're probably going to dress us up again," I commented. "It's likely that they don't want some people to look poorer or less well-off than others, so they're trying to even things out. Which is good, considering that the only thing fancy enough for this is the dress I got two years ago."

"Yeah, but it still fits you," Laxus pointed out.

I groaned. "Ugh, please don't remind me. It only took Virgo a couple of minutes for it to be tailored perfectly. Last time around, I could pass for a teen at this age."

Laxus snorted. "Yeah, you're just tiny now."

I kicked him, which was a bit odd laying down, but I managed.

"I'll get bigger eventually," I muttered.

"Nah, you should stay this size," Laxus smirked over at me. "It makes me feel like I could take you on any day."

I pushed him off the bed.

"Ow! Elle!"

* * *

Later that night, everyone else arrived, and after dinner I ended up visiting Hisui, with Lucy by my side, because she wanted to see them again.

"Ellie-nee!" Hisui yelled as the door opened.

"Hey, sweetheart," I said, scooping her up as she ran for me. "How have you been?"

"It's my birfday!" she smiled, lisping over the last word.

"Well, you've got to wait a few more hours," I said. Hisui was born around 2 or 3 in the morning - I honestly couldn't remember, it was so wild that night. "But yeah! How old are you going to be?"

"Two!" Hisui proclaimed happily. She turned to Lucy. "Lushi-nee, I'm turning two!"

Lucy gave a little giggle, playing with Hisui's hair, which reminded me of the small cut Cana had when her mom died.

I looked over to Toma and Ame as I put down Hisui so she could play with Lucy. "And how have you guys been?"

Toma shrugged. "You know, same old. Though, I had to commission a new stadium because of a destructive guild..."

I blushed, and he and Ame laughed.

"I already told you, it was fine," he said. "Ella, you asked before the fight started whether or not we had runes built in - you were preparing us. Our runes just weren't strong enough."

Lucy cleared her throat, and we turned to look at her. "What's Hisui's favorite animal?"

"We're not quite sure," Ame said. "She tends to like mammals, though."

Lucy nodded, pulling out some keys. " _Open, Gate of the Hunting Dogs! Canes Venatici! Open, Gate of Hare! Lepus! Open, Gate of the Fox! Vulpecula!"_

The spirits appeared, and suddenly, four furry animals were in the room.

Hisui squealed, and made her way to Lepus, who was the closest.

"Maybe you should get her a spirit," Lucy said, coming up next to us. "Not now - I'd wait a few months, but if you get a Canis Minor, she should be fine."

She turned to me. "Hisui is one of the bloodlines, right?"

I nodded.

"What magic is it?"

"Sun Spells," Toma answered. "I never had the affinity for it - sometimes, Magic acts odd. Probably because it new you were coming."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

"Ella, Planetary Magic was considered Lost. Even though you wield it, it's still technically considered a Lost Magic. But you are not only quite talented in it, but you are quite powerful for your age as well."

I blushed a bit.

"And you, Miss Heartfilia. You are, as I've come to know it, the most powerful Celestial Spirit Wizard in existence."

He turned back to me. "Are there any other powerful Stellar Spirit users in your generation? Or will there be?"

 _Guess he completely believes me, now._

I nodded. "Definitely."

"Then it is likely the magic skipped over me, giving Hisui what would be mine, so she would become more powerful."

He turned to Lucy. "While it's true that you will never become as powerful if you learn the wrong type of magic, Hisui should be fine with a few silver keys if she wishes. In order for her to ever get strong enough to wield a golden key, however, she'd have to practice many, many years. Far longer than it took you."

"I was able to summon Loke, though," I said.

Lucy shook her head. "Even then, I think it was mostly Loke's own power. You didn't _really_ do it, Ellie-nee. If you were to try and summon a gold spirit you're not contracted to that couldn't leave their gate on their own, you'd probably pass out."

Damn. I had actually been proud of myself for that. And even so, I _had_ nearly passed out trying to summon Loke.

And if it was for anyone who wasn't properly attuned to the magic...

I thought back to the other timeline. How long had it taken Yukino to learn that, if it wasn't her magic?

But I smiled to myself. Yukino wouldn't really lose her spirits - she'd still get to spend time with Pisces and Libra when I give those keys to Lucy. And Lucy already had Ophiuchus. Yukino would also get stronger with her new magic, and be able to defend herself better.

But some small gate keys, maybe for both Hisui and Yukino, would be good.

"Maybe you could get Hisui a small collection of silver keys," I said. "And maybe we should give her some like Serpens, too, so she can defend herself. Just in case."

We said goodnight and eventually left - though Hisui didn't want us, or the spirits, to go. I told her that the faster she goes to sleep, the faster she can see us the next morning for her birthday, which seemed to help.

* * *

"You look wonderful," the maid gasped, playing with my dress.

"I wasn't nearly this fancy last time," I said, looking at myself in the mirror. "And the last time was a formal ball. Isn't this just a birthday party?"

"Nonsense, this is perfect," the maid said arbitrarily, sitting me down and fixing my hair.

"At this rate, we're going to be late," I said, pointing to the clock.

The maid tittered and continued with my hair and makeup.

I must admit, she did a good job. My dark purple curls were pulled up behind me and tumbled down in a beautiful updo. The dress was a beautiful gold, with cream accents for the ruffles.

I'm going to change my statement from the previous ball.

 _Now,_ I felt the most beautiful I have ever been in my lives. In addition to that, the make-up managed to make me look a bit older, around thirteen or so. Still way younger than in my previous life, but it was older than I was, so I was alright with it.

"Well, you're all done," the maid said, stepping back. "Now, how about you go to the party, alright?"

She lead me through several hallways to the ballroom, where we peeked inside.

Maybe it was a bit rude of me, but... "See! They've already started!"

"Hush, dear, it will be fine," the maid said, signaling to Ame, who saw the two of us and nodded.

"Alright, in you go!" the maid said, pushing me into the room.

I stumbled forward - I was wearing heels, which made me a few inches taller - and Hisui's voice shouted from across the room. "It's Ellie-nee!"

People turned to look at me, and I noticed that the members of my guild seemed especially awed at the sight of me. Laxus, especially (who was only a few feet away) seemed to be staring at me.

Ame cleared her throat and nudged Hisui, who looked down. "Sowwy." She tried to mimic her mother's clearing of throat. "Annowncing Lady Elle of Faiwy Tail!"

Absolute silence. Then...

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAT?" was shouted in unison.

"Elle?" Laxus was laughing. "A _L_ _ady?"_

"Shut up!" I shouted, punching him.

* * *

So...apparently I had become a Lady. I'm not quite sure how that happened, but Ame and Toma thought they should surprise me during Hisui's birthday party, which became a celebration for both of us. I felt a bit bad for infringing, but when I mentioned that this was Hisui's special day, she demanded that my gift to her was to share the party.

I think that was the point where I hugged her for several minutes straight.

She's just so sweet and adorable!

Ame said that they were unsure whether they wanted to knight me or give me a position of nobility, so they decided on both. I was to be considered a Lady until I was of age, when I would become a Dame.

But you can't really call a twelve-year-old girl a Dame.

Well, I mean you can, but it doesn't really work...

So for now I'm a Lady, which, according to the guests and just about everyone except Laxus, I could pull off.

Later that night, after dinner, I cornered Laxus.

"Dude, what the hell?" I asked him.

"What?" he grumbled, looking away.

"Laxus, seriously! What the fuck is wrong with you tonight?!"

"I thought Ladies weren't supposed to swear," he muttered.

I growled, legit growled at him. " _What_ is your _problem_? You should be happy for me and shit!"

He glared and looked away.

"Are you jealous?" I asked. "Is that it?"

"No, I - I'm not jealous!" He glared back at me. "But now you're _nobility_ and you're gonna move into the castle. What are you doing talking to _me_?"

I stared at him in surprise. "What the _fuck_? Laxus, I don't care about being a damn Lady. I'm a Fairy Tail Wizard, dammit! This is just something on top of that - like how Master is a Ten Wizard Saint! I might need to go to a few more balls or shit, but I'm still the same! I'm still living in my house in the woods, I'm still going on missions, and I'm still your best friend, dammit! So what, I'm a Lady now? That just means that I _need_ my dragon, alright? Side by side, remember?"

His face relaxed, and he smiled back at me. "Side by side."

I smiled. "Good. Now..." I spread out my arms and lifted the dress. "Indulge me. I'm a Lady now, and I'd like a dance, kind sir."

He snickered.

I glared at him.

Laxus sighed and held out a hand. "May I have this dance..." I glared at him. "...my Lady."

"Yes, I would," I said, taking his hand.

Even as a child, I still wanted to be a Princess for a bit, just like every other girl. But a Lady is close enough.

* * *

It was only a week into August when something came up.

Lucy, Brandish, and Cana ended up going on a lot of jobs together.

I couldn't help wondering if it was because of their level of power.

It's hard to see it in the series, but certain people, like Gildarts or even Laxus, would hold back on their magical power when surrounded by allies. If their allies weren't strong enough, you could damage them from their magical pressure. That's why, except for under extreme circumstances, things don't match up. When Laxus first tried to take over Fairy Tail, during the Fantasia parade, he went full out, on a completely different level. Certain people tend to perform better when it comes to pure magical power when they don't have to worry about holding back for the sake of their friends, even though the spirit of your friends beside you can make you stronger than you are.

Lucy, Brandish and Cana were definitely some of the strongest of the younger kids. If Levy was there, or even Juvia, they'd probably have to hold back a bit more.

The three were on a mission to stop some sort of monster that was destroying things in Willow Village when they realized the monster was something else.

Lucy's signal card went off, and I stopped training and disappeared to their location (no doubt leaving behind many confused guildmates).

"What's wrong?" I asked her, appearing out of nowhere.

" _Duck_!" she yelled, grabbing me.

I hit the floor just as a vase flew over my head.

"We need Bickslow!" Cana yelled.

"Bickslow?" I asked. "Why?"

"They're lost souls," Brandish said, increasing the size of a shield in front of her. "And we're having trouble trapping them."

"Got it," I said, disappearing.

I popped back into the training room.

"Where did you go?" Laxus asked.

"No time," I said, spinning to look at Bickslow. "Bickslow, we found some lost souls!"

He perked up. "Really?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I think there are two. I've got the puppets. Ready to go?"

He nodded, and Papa flew over, extremely excited.

"We're ready," they said.

I grabbed both of them and popped back to the girls.

And once again, straight into a battle zone.

"Shit," Bickslow said, watching everything go flying. "You said there's _two_?"

"Yeah," I said.

"It would be hard to subdue _one_ ," Papa commented. "They're both pretty far gone."

"Well, go for one first," I said. "The girls and I can keep the other distracted."

Bickslow took a deep breath. "Alright. Got it."

The other girls made their way over to us, and we all crouched behind an enlarged shield. "What's the plan?" Cana asked.

"Bicks is going to go after one, and we're going to distract the other one," I said, requipping out the two puppets that Bickslow would need. We had already put the lacrimas they needed inside the puppets.

"Ready?" I asked him.

He nodded, and his eyes started to glow.

He peeked over the shield and grabbed one of the souls with his eyes, bringing it to him and back around. The other one started to get more agitated.

Cana threw a card over to the other side of the room, and it emitted a flash that showed where the other soul was. Unfortunately, the light only lasted a few seconds.

" _Scutum_!" Lucy yelled, and a shield with a face on it popped up. "See if you can keep it contained!"

"I will try, Miss Lucy!" the shield cried, and rune walls similar to Freed's started popping up.

The soul buzzed angrily about being trapped, and it picked up a vase and threw it. Unfortunately, it sailed through the rune walls and hit Scutum in the face. Luckily, Scutum is a shield, and didn't vanish with one measly hit.

The soul got angrier, and tried going through the shield itself, but it was trapped. Scutum also updated his rune walls to stop physical objects from coming at them.

And then the soul stopped freaking out and came to the wall.

"Lucy, can you put down the barrier, I need to pull it through," Bickslow's voice crept up to us.

Lucy nodded to Scutum, who dropped the shield, and we all relaxed.

"Thank you, Scutum!" Lucy said happily.

"No problem, Miss Lucy!" the shield said happily. "With your power reserves, it wasn't very difficult!"

"Bye, Scutum!" Lucy waved to him.

"Goodbye," he said, doing what seemed to be a bow (or really just a shield bending in half, which was an odd sight).

He vanished and returned to the Celestial World, and I turned to the girls. "I'm actually surprised you guys had this much trouble with them."

"It's not that we had trouble with them…" Cana said. "We just…hmm…"

"We wanted to make sure that it was done right!" Lucy chirped up. "So Bickslow could get more souls! We didn't want to ruin it, or anything."

"Thank you, Lucy," Bickslow said, coming forward, and he held out his arm to gesture the new souls. "May we present Pepe and Pipi!"

"We were twins in real life!" Pepe said happily.

"Thank you so much," Pipi cried. "It's so nice to not be so angry all the time!"

"Well, you guys ought to get your reward. I'll return Bickslow and check up with you in a bit."

I waved at them and brought Bickslow back to the training room, and then disappeared before they could interrogate me, too.

They could go after Bickslow easily enough.

I returned to the girls, and Cana was straightening up while Lucy talked to the requestor. Brandish was sitting off to the side, an odd look on her face.

"What's wrong?" I asked her, sitting down.

Brandish was quiet a bit, before she began to speak. "I felt rather useless, Nora. I wasn't able to really fight."

I paused a bit, thinking. "Sometimes it's kinda like that. There are times where we _can't_ fight the main fight – we can only help the ones who can."

Slowly, she nodded. "I see."

"There's almost _always_ a way you can help, or give support. Sometimes, just by being there, it's enough."

"Thank you, Nora," she said, giving me a soft smile.

I smiled at her. "Well, you guys seem to be doing fine, so I should get going."

I waved at her, and vanished.

* * *

Bickslow spent his time trying to coordinate attacks with his souls. He wasn't having the easiest time of it, but he was trying, and it was working.

Everyone else found things to concentrate on, hoping to improve their skills, though most people were simply working on their finesse and magical power. A few people were trying to learn things in particular.

Of course, Jet and Droy were just trying to learn how to use their magic in the first place. Jet seemed to continually have a problem where he couldn't stop running once he started unless he ran into something. The only one who had a chance in stopping him was Laxus, because of his lightning.

So we had him run off the trampoline and into the foam pit. At least he doesn't have a swollen head anymore from banging into the wall repeatedly.

Juvia was concentrating on trying to control mud, though she was having trouble with the thickness and weight difference from regular water. She was also trying to be able to extract water from other things, but that seemed to be even harder for her.

Erigor was working on taking someone's oxygen, so they could pass out. Right now, it looked like it took a lot of energy from him, but he seemed to be doing well enough.

Laxus was working on how well he could control machines with his lightning, though most of the time he just ended up crashing the system or simply breaking it.

Freed, Levy and Cana mostly spent their time around Gray and Lyon, trying to find more ways to keep their clothes on.

It wasn't working.

Enno and Nab were concentrating on Nab's family magic, and while he still wasn't _amazing_ at it, he was doing a lot better.

Evergreen started practicing magic with her new birthday gift - I had given her the snake pendant I had found at one of the Celestial sites, after Makarov cleared it, and it could transform into a snake they could control.

Though they weren't around, Lucy and Brandish were practicing as well. Lucy was concentrating on her astral projection, so she'd be able to find her gates without her keys, and Brandish was working on shrinking things inside of other things – like how she would shrink tumors and other issues. She couldn't shrink wounds yet, though.

I was working on teleportation, because I seem to have gotten rusty doing that (or carrying large amounts of people, at least), and Astral Projection.

You see, Virgo had mentioned that Lucy could find the gates by astral projecting, going onto the Astral Plane, and then continuing over into the Celestial World.

If I can reach the Astral Plane, maybe I can unlock my astral container that Corvus mentioned. Maybe I could deal with power more easily, too, and I wouldn't have to worry about these damn bracelets.

August was a pretty calm month, until the last week, when things went horribly wrong.

* * *

Nothing was supposed to happen this year. X775 was _supposed_ to be a blank year.

It wasn't.

Yukino's Celestial bracelet went off.

Which means it was time to go to her.

Which is fucking ridiculous, because she would only be two and a half.

But I went anyway, and her town was on fire.

Though I was still able to read the town name on the burning sign, and it sent a horrible lump down my throat;

 _Rosemary Village._


	61. Rosemary Village

**Chapter Sixty One – Rosemary Village**

I should have seen this coming – there were clues, even.

Jet and Droy's town had been attacked. The adults were killed, and when Jet had me check his friend's house, there was no child among the bodies – which means he either ran, or was taken.

Nothing happened in X775 because Erza doesn't _escape_ until X776, and the story never mentioned when she was taken in the first place.

* * *

The village was deserted, already covered in flames. It looked as if the slavers had already come and gone, and all that was left to do was to find Yukino.

So I started following the bracelet; and then I saw something that was familiar.

 _Very_ familiar.

I stared at the trashcan.

The bracelet hummed, but I ignored it.

 _What was so important about the damn trashcan_?

And then like a wave, it crashed down over me.

The name of the village had seemed familiar, but not because it was Yukino's village. I'd never _heard_ the name to Yukino's village.

 _Rosemary Village_ , however, hosted three other people that I knew of.

Erza.

Simon.

And Kagura.

I moved closer to the trashcan.

 _Please be the right one_.

I threw the lid open.

Kagura screamed.

I screamed back.

Even though I _knew_ she was in there, I was not expecting her to _scream_ in my _face_.

"Calm down!" I shouted, holding a hand over my ears.

Kagura stopped screaming as she realized that the village around us was empty.

"Fuck, Kagura, get out of the damn trashcan."

She stared at me, before… "What?"

I sighed, and reached in, grabbing her.

"Hey!" she protested, trying to squirm.

"Calm down," I said. "I'm just helping you get out. You're too small to do it on your own."

"No, I'm not!" she protested.

I sighed again. Kagura was born the year after the youngest kids in the guild right now. "How old are you? Six? Seven?"

"S…six," Kagura admitted.

So half my age.

"When do you turn seven?" I asked.

"November," she said.

I sighed (I WAS NOT MENTALLY PREPARED FOR THIS), and squatted to go next to her. "Listen, Kagura. This village was attacked. I'm here to find survivors and get you guys to safety."

She gasped. "My brother? And Onee-chan?"

"I'm afraid they were both taken by those men," I told her.

"But…" her eyes started to well up.

"Don't worry!" I said urgently, holding up my hands. "I know how to find them. I promise you, Kagura, I'll help you get them back, alright?"

Slowly, she nodded. "Who are you?"

"My name is Elle," I said. "I'm with the Fairy Tail guild."

"You were the girl on the LS!" she gasped.

I tried to refrain from hitting myself.

 _That damn name…!_

"Yes, I was the girl during the GMG, this summer. Is this your house?"

She shook her head and lead me over to a different burning house. With a wave of my hand, I doused the fire, and we went inside.

"Get your things," I told her. "And anything of your brother's that you want to keep, too. Don't worry about storage, I can take everything with magic."

The girl nodded and lead me around, trying to take all that she could. Still, she didn't have much, even with going through her brother's items as well.

"Alright," I said. "Now, I know for a fact that there's another girl still alive in this village. Can you search for other survivors while I try to get this girl to come out? You should still stick close, though."

Kagura nodded, and we followed the bracelet to another burning house; which wasn't surprising, considering that all of the ones we passed were also on fire.

Kagura slowed behind me, peeking into houses and behind bushes and looking for other people.

The bracelet glowed and vibrated as I neared one house, but as I went to step into it, it died down again.

I paused, thinking. Was I going the wrong way?

I took a step back and the bracelet lit up again, humming steadily.

Wrong way, then.

I continued playing Hot and Cold with a bracelet, looking around, as Kagura continued making her way through the surrounding houses.

And then I saw her; hidden behind a bush near her house was Yukino.

She was shivering – shaking despite the heat of the fire.

"You know," I said to her. "You shouldn't be so close to the fire."

She screamed.

Okay, so maybe I should have found a better way to introduce myself.

And all of this damn screaming was giving me a headache.

"Shhhhh!" I reassured her. "It's alright! You're safe now."

She still didn't come out of the bush.

I held out my hand. "My name is Elle. And I know you went through a traumatic- er, a bad experience, but I can help you find your sister."

I know _some_ psychology, but I'm nowhere near an expert, and I have no clue on how to deal with traumatized children. Especially considering how young Yukino is.

"Sora-nee?" her voice was a whisper among the flames.

"Yeah," I said. "I can help you find Sorano, but you need to come closer, alright? Staying near the flames like that isn't safe."

Slowly, Yukino began to crawl out.

"Hey, sweetheart," I said, and I noticed she had what looked like a twisted ankle. "Let me help with that."

I heard Kagura come up behind me, now that Yukino was out, and she gasped as I closed my eyes and whispered, " _Saturn's Healing Winds_."

The wind surrounded the ankle, and the swelling started to go down.

"You still probably shouldn't stand on that," I said. "Are you alright with me carrying you?"

Yukino waited a bit before nodding, and lifting up her arms.

I bent down and pulled her up, propping her on my hip.

"Yukino, is this your home?" I asked her, pointing at the house with my other arm.

Yukino nodded again.

"Alright," I said, pulling back my arm. " _Wave of Neptune!_ "

The water cascaded over the house and put out the fire, and (after covering Yukino's eyes and checking to make sure there was no dead bodies) we entered the house.

"Yukino, which room was Sorano's?" I asked her.

Yukino pointed at a room.

"And which one was yours?" I asked her.

She pointed at the same room.

"You guys shared?"

She nodded.

"Kagura," I told the girl. "I want you to find the master bedroom. See if you can find any Jewel for Yukino to keep or use in the future. The guild and I will help support you two, but it's always good to have money saved, anyway."

Kagura nodded and took off, trailing down a hallway. I turned and entered Yukino and Sorano's room.

I put Yukino on what was obviously Sorano's bed, as far from the edge as possible. Luckily, the fire hadn't seemed to have reached the room, so there wasn't any damage.

"Alright," I told her. "Stay there, I'm going to start putting things away."

I moved over to Yukino's side of the room and began requipping things into my storage space. I had emptied out all of the clothes and nearly finished with the crib when Yukino started crying.

"What's wrong?" I asked, turning to her.

She was staring at some empty spots on her makeshift crib, and I realized what it was.

I requipped the last few stuffed animals I had put away. "Do you want one of these?"

She stopped crying and smiled, reaching for a bear. "B! B!"

I blinked, before pointing at the bear. "Its name is B?"

She nodded, and I shrugged, passing the bear over to her.

She hugged it, smiling, and I continued requipping.

Eventually I finished, and the room was mostly bare.

I hefted Yukino up and finished requipping her crib and Sorano's bed.

We left the room and went over to Kagura, who was eating some food in the kitchen.

A pile of Jewel was on the table, and I requipped it away.

The three of us continued through the village for survivors, searching as we went. But despite it all, there was no one left. I was dousing houses left and right (after gathering the fires closer to me to conserve energy), and Kagura was scavenging through them to take some things.

"You're not keeping all of them," I told her. "We'll give them back to everyone when Fairy Tail rescues them, okay?"

She looked a bit disappointed, but nodded.

And we were done. The fires were out, and there was nothing and no one left.

I couldn't help but think it was extremely disappointing how Yukino and Kagura were the only survivors.

And also that the Rune Knights were absolutely nowhere to be found...Toma would be pissed.

With one last look at the city, I grasped Kagura's hand and tightened my hold on Yukino before teleporting away.

* * *

We landed in front of my little house, and I couldn't help but be thankful that Erigor had moved out and that Laxus had only stayed for a little while earlier in the year.

"Where are we?" Kagura asked.

"This is my house," I said. I turned and pointed at the lights in the distance. "And that's Magnolia. I'll take you to the guild there, tomorrow, alright?"

She nodded.

"Alright, come on, guys," I said, opening the door and leading them inside. I lead the way through the kitchen and into the spare bedroom.

"This is where you guys will stay. Are you alright with sharing?" I asked.

I was specifically asking Kagura this. While I had previously left kids younger than her alone in Fairy Hills or Fairy Valleys, Kagura had just been through a traumatizing experience and shouldn't be left alone. In addition to that, I don't think I could handle Yukino by myself.

Kagura nodded and turned to Yukino. "Yukino?" she asked quietly.

Yukino looked at her, to show she was paying attention.

"Until we get our brother and sister back…" Kagura said. "Can we be sisters?"

Yukino was quiet, simply thinking, before, very slowly, nodding.

Kagura hugged her, and Yukino hugged her back.

"Are you guys alright with sharing a bed?" I asked. "If Yukino stays closer to the wall, she won't fall off if you're on the other side, Kagura."

Kagura nodded, and Yukino clutched her bear tighter.

"Are you guys ready to go to sleep?" I asked.

They both nodded, and I helped them get changed into some of their clothes. The rest could be put away in the morning.

As I got them ready, I sat down on the edge of the bed, turning to them. "I need to have a conversation with someone. Can I go now, or do you want me to stay? I can speak to them tomorrow, if I need to."

"Stay," Yukino's voice was quiet, but firm.

I nodded. "Alright. If you need me, I'll be in the room right next door." I requipped out a card and put it on their dresser. "If you need me, this will wake me up, and I'll come to you guys. If you count to thirty, and I haven't come, Kagura, come and get me, please. Yukino probably shouldn't be walking yet. I'll take you to a healer in the morning."

There were more than a few problems with using _Saturn's Healing Winds_ and some were that I weren't the best at certain things. It was easier to heal something like a bone versus a sprained ankle. The bone needs to be mended together. The ankle needs to be set correctly, and the muscles adjusted so it heals properly, and I don't have enough experience in that area, yet.

I leaned forward and gave both of them another hug. "You girls are amazing, and so brave. Don't worry. I'll help you get your family back, alright?"

They both nodded and returned the hug.

"Goodnight, Kagura, Yukino," I said.

"Goodnight Onee-chan," Kagura said.

"Goodnight, Onee-chan," Yukino repeated.

I hugged them one more time, and turned for the door. "Do you guys want the door opened, or closed?"

"Open," Kagura said.

I nodded and left the door open, going back to my room.

I was in for a long night.

* * *

 **So I have a new goal - I want to hit over 1,000 reviews (on Fanfiction) before I'm done with the Tower of Heaven Arc. It will probably be finished by Chapter 65, and I tend to get an average of about 20 reviews a chapter.**

 **If, (somehow between your logging out so you can yell at me more) I get over 50 reviews a chapter, I will try and find more time to work on writing this! :)**

 **I actually spend most of my time doing homework and watching Fairy Tail (I'm rewatching the show with a new friend in college. Eventually, she'll get to this chapter, when she's caught up enough to read this).**


	62. Preparing for War

**Updating early for havarti2. You're welcome.**

 **Also, I edited a picture of Elle for this chapter, using a still of Cana at eleven in the series. If you want to see it, check out this story on Wattpad or Quotev. And before anyone asks, yes I used Photoshop.**

* * *

 **Chapter Sixty Two - Preparing for War**

I was right.

Yukino and Kagura summoned me back and forth several times over the night. They both suffered from nightmares, and were scared I would vanish as easily as their siblings did. I ended up camping out in their room for the night, though I hope it doesn't have to happen again.

I was pretty tired the next morning, but I woke up and helped them (mostly Yukino) get dressed.

Oddly enough, Yukino doesn't wear a diaper, even though she should still be in the potty training stages.

Of course, this probably has to do with more of Mashima's stupid continuity problems, and that pissed me off.

While the two of them were eating breakfast, I managed to flip through one of the psychology texts I had gotten from the Magic Council's public library. Unfortunately, it was missing an entire section on child development, and I had a feeling that all of the information I had previously had about it was going to be useless.

 _Thanks, Mashima._

At least my sarcasm will never fail me.

I turned to Yukino and Kagura. "Are you guys ready to go to the guild?" I asked quietly.

They nodded, both nervous, and I pulled Yukino into the air. She settled comfortably on my hip. "Don't worry, they'll like you just fine. First though, we're going to go visit a special doctor, alright?"

They both nodded again.

"Now, her name is Porlyusica, and she can be very loud and seem very angry, alright? But she's on our side, and she won't hurt you."

I took Kagura's hand and jumped the three of us to Porlyusica's house.

I knocked on the door. "Porly? It's me, and I've got some young ones with me, and they'd appreciate it if you didn't yell. They recently went through some trauma."

The fact that I approached quietly was probably why Porlyusica opened the door slowly. "What's wrong?" she barked, though it wasn't as bad as usual.

"I had to save Kagura," I gestured to the dark haired child beside me, "and Yukino," I shifted the light bluenette on my hip. "It was early last night, and their village was raided by some crazy people. While running away, Yukino twisted her ankle. I healed it as much as I could, but I'm not as good with muscles as I am with bones."

The only thing harder for me to move than muscles was nerves. Bones were easy – they were already solid. And skin was pretty easy, as long as it could be stitched up in a reasonable way. A long cut from a knife could be healed easily, but if it was a oddly-shaped wound, or something bullet-like, it would be much, much harder.

Porlyusica sighed, nodded, and opened the door wider, letting us in.

I carried Yukino in and over to the bed, laying her down. Kagura hopped up on the bed beside her.

As Porlyusica looked over Yukino, Kagura turned to me. "Onee-chan, can you fight?"

I nodded. "Yes."

"I want to fight," Kagura said. "But I'm not sure what type of magic I could learn…"

"Well," I said, thinking back over her magic in the previous timeline. "You could learn physical skills, and use magic to help enhance them."

"What do you mean?" Kagura asked.

"Well, you could use a magic to speed yourself up, and fight with a sword instead. Or Gravity Magic to weigh your opponent down or lighten your own weight. In fact, if you choose to use a sword, I actually have one for you as you get older."

"Really?" she gasped.

I nodded.

Kagura looked down. "I want to learn how to fight."

"Alright," I said. "I'll see about starting to teach you how to use a sword. We can learn enhancement magic a bit after that."

"Okay," she said happily.

"Magic?" Yukino asked.

I turned to her. Had she been listening the whole time? And how much did she understand? When it comes to childhood development _in this universe_ , I felt like I had to throw out any of my previous knowledge.

"Yeah, Yukino," I said. "Magic. When you're older, I've got some magic for you, too."

Yukino blinked, and then smiled.

Porlyusica returned with a potion, and Yukino drank it. In addition to that, Porlyusica wrapped up the ankle with a bandage soaked in a special brew.

"There you go," she said. "I would suggest you stay off of the ankle for most of today, maybe _try_ walking a bit later for its support, but it should heal up quite soon."

Yukino nodded, smiling. "Fank you, Powyusca."

Porlyusica gave a small smile, and dismissed us. "You're welcome, child."

We waved goodbye, and I teleported us back to my house.

"Why didn't you take us to the guild?" Kagura asked.

"I want us to walk there together, so you know how to get back to the house," I told her. "Though that's only as a last resort. Try to stick with me, alright?"

They nodded.

We left and started down the path to Magnolia. Both girls were amazed by the city, unused to it because of their small village life.

"It's so big," Kagura muttered.

"You'll get used to it," I told her, and she clutched my hand tighter.

* * *

"Here we are," I said, arriving at the guild.

Unsurprisingly, most people were fooling around. "Come on, we're going to go to the training room in the back," I told them. "That's where the rest of the kids are."

We made our way to the back, and I was happy that the guild seemed occupied. I didn't want to put too much attention on the girls that suddenly.

We walked down the hallway to the training room. "Ready?" I asked the two of them. Yukino curled into me more, and Kagura clutched my hand tighter, but she nodded.

I opened the door.

"Elle?" Makarov asked, eyeing me. His odd tone of voice made the others stop their training and look at me.

"I thought you stopped stealing children," Laxus muttered.

I glared at him.

"Guys," I said softly. "This is Kagura, and this little one is Yukino. They're living with me for now, and eventually, they'll start learning magic."

My eyes shifted over to Jet and Droy. "Their families were killed and their siblings were taken by the same people who invaded your town."

Both their eyes widened, and they gestured us over to their spot on the floor, next to Levy.

I walked over slowly, with Kagura still tight by my side. "Guys," I said softly, speaking to Kagura and Yukino now. "These two boys also escaped from the same men that you did. They killed their parents."

"The same men?" Kagura asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, they worked for the same cult."

Kagura paused a bit, before sitting down next to the boys. Levy scooted over and hugged her.

"Kagura is six, everyone," I announced, squatting. "And Yukino is two and a half."

They nodded, and I settled Yukino down on the ground. "Are you two going to be okay if I leave you alone, here?" I asked them. "I need to talk to the Master, but it can wait if you want me to stay."

Yukino whimpered, her grip on me tightening, but Kagura put a hand over hers. "We need to let Onee-chan do as she needs. Or else it will take longer to get your sister and my brother back."

Yukino slowly nodded, and got off of me, pulling B to her chest and snuggling with it. I tossed my jacket over her shoulders. "Here you guys go. We're going to put up some rune walls so we can talk in here. You won't be able to hear us, but you should still be able to see me."

Kagura nodded, and I turned to Jet, feeling dread in my stomach over what I was going to ask. "One last thing. The name, of your neighbor. What was it?"

"His name was Sawyer," Jet answered.

My stomach lurched.

I should have opened that folder.

I backed away from the group and headed towards Makarov, passing over Freed (who had been listening in), who was putting down a rune wall for me.

He was quiet as he looked at me. "What is the matter, child? What happened with these children?"

"We…we should probably get Mavis, too," I said quietly.

"It's a good thing I'm already here, then, isn't it?" A giggle escaped from behind me, and I saw Mavis happily floating next to Zeref.

Zeref was not floating - which was good, because that wouldn't really fit his image.

Then again, Zeref seemed a lot more life-like than Mavis was, and you could actually still touch him, so...

"You guys are back earlier than I expected," I said, smiling at them.

"Earlier?" Makarov asked, mouth agape. "It's been almost nine months!"

I shrugged. "They haven't been able to do anything together for _years._ I thought they would have taken a bit more time."

"To be honest, we probably would have," Mavis admitted. "But Zeref sensed that something was amiss."

Makarov frowned as we both looked over to the Dark Wizard. "Zeref?" he questioned.

Zeref sat down quietly, thinking. "When I walked upon the earth as I did previously, I was unable to sense certain things. Being constantly surrounded by Ankhseram's Black Magic wasn't helpful, either. Now, though…" he hesitated. "I'm constantly astral projecting, and there's no Black Magic in the way. Something's amiss, and I'm unsure of what. A darkness gathering. One that reminds me of…well, me."

The four of us were quiet, and I took a deep breath. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about," I spoke, whispering.

All three looked at me, and I couldn't stop what blurted out next. "I'm sorry. I failed."

"Failed what, my child?" Makarov asked, his voice grave.

I started to cry. "I'm sorry, I didn't know. Things are _different_ here, my math would've been right if this world just followed the _rules_."

"Elle," Makarov ground out.

"I thought I would have more _time_ ," I whispered. "It wasn't supposed to happen like _this_. I should have had until at least February!"

"Elle!"

"Some members of our guild were kidnapped by some cultists!" I cried. "And I was going to try and stop them but I got things _wrong_! And now they're trapped, in a tower, being tortured, and _it's all my fault!_ "

I felt arms catch me as my knees began to collapse, and Laxus rocked me back and forth slowly. "Shhhh. It'll be okay, Elle. We'll figure it out, we always do."

I curled into his chest, wailing, as he shushed me and rubbed my back comfortingly.

When I calmed down, I pulled back and looked around the room. Freed had taken down the barrier, and everyone else had arrived and was looking at me for an explanation.

I began quietly. "I thought I would have more time. You see, a specific group of people I know ended up getting abducted the last timeline. One of those is Yukino's older sister, Sorano. But I was confused, because Yukino, in the future, clearly remembered her sister. And so I thought I would have until Yukino turned three, in February, to act."

"Why?" Makarov asked.

"Back in my original world, the human memory doesn't develop to a specific point until around three years of age. So it would be illogical to think it would be anything different here…except it is, apparently."

I took a deep breath. "These people are trapped, in a tower on an island around the border of Caelum. These people are slaves, starved and tortured. So I _will_ go rescue them, even if I have to go myself."

I began to stand up, but before I could get too high, Laxus yanked me back down next to him. "Don't be stupid."

"Yeah, we'll come too," Cana said, and the kids nodded.

"Guess we have to go, now, to make sure they don't kill themselves," Macao said, shrugging, and Enno hit him.

"Yeah, there's no way I'd let Cana do something like that without me," Gildarts said, crossing his arms. "There's still no way I'd really let her do that, but she'll probably just do it anyway, so..."

"So, we'll go then?" I asked, trying to get up again, and Laxus sighed before shifting and practically trapping me in his lap.

"Stop trying to leave!" he demanded. "Jeez, this isn't like you! We need to _think_ about things, we can't just go rushing in."

"Laxus is right," Makarov added. "I'd like to get them out of there before the end of the year, if possible, but is there a certain time you would recommend us by?"

I hesitated. "There's a revolution in the latter half of next year, and if we aren't there to interfere, lots of people will die. Including Rob."

Makarov choked on air. "Rob? Rob from…?"

I nodded. "Your Rob. I'm...I'm sorry."

"What was your plan?" Ur asked.

"Hm?" I asked, looking at her.

"Well…" she looked over at Jet and Droy. "From what I can tell, they took people from different villages. What was your plan going to be, to save the others?"

"I would make monitoring cards associated with the people I knew were taken," I said. "And when the attack took place, I would hopefully take many of us and we'd divert the attack, and then take the cultists hostage until we learnt more from them and they'd freed the others."

"The cultists…" Zeref said slowly. "They're some of mine, aren't they? You mentioned a tower…they're trying to build the R System, aren't they."

It wasn't a question.

"Mavis, hit him," I said.

Mavis turned and slapped him.

"Ow!" Zeref cried, holding his cheek. "What was that for?"

"Being an idiot," I said. "It's not your fault."

"It's not yours, either," he shot back.

"Well, why don't you come with us," I said instead. "And give those cultists the scare of their lives. After all…they do worship you."

Zeref actually got a bit of an evil grin on his face, and I couldn't really blame him since he was going to enjoy it.

I would enjoy it, too.

"Show them why they should fear you," I continued. "Not the Dark Lord Zeref...but Zeref of Fairy Tail."

And the joy that lit up Zeref's face almost made everything okay.

"So now what?" Silver asked.

"Now we commence a plan of attack," Makarov commanded. "And we go to war."

* * *

 **I switched out my polls again. This one is voting on the gender of Maggie and Rex's kid. Please vote, because the baby will be coming in a few chapters.**

 **Also...I will likely finish the next chapter soon, especially because I have tomorrow off. Depending on your responses, would you like me to post the chapter as soon as I'm done, or would you like me to get a bit of a head start on the next one so you don't have to wait in agony?**

 **And in case you haven't figured it out, the next chapter is: Chapter Sixty Three: Tower of Heaven, Part One.**


	63. Tower of Heaven, Part One

**I regret nothing. And yes, I have triple checked this chapter before publishing it. It's meant to be like that. All is as it should be.**

 **And don't worry, I've got a pretty good head start for the next one. Also (though I will still put aside more time of my day for writing) I am upping my review goal to 1200; let's do this!**

 **And thank you Silverflow, for going back and commenting on every chapter. :) It made my day seeing all of those emails.**

* * *

 **Chapter Sixty Three – Tower of Heaven, Part One**

After over a month of planning, we figured out our plan of attack. The kids – and even adults – spent most of their time training, and Makarov, Mavis and I were planning out everything I could think of, using everything I knew.

Layla and Jude weren't exactly happy about it, but Lucy and Brandish were coming along. They had already told them that if they weren't allowed to come willingly, they'd sneak along, and likely get more hurt in doing so. Because of this, and the constant arguing, the two adults relented, and decided to let them come along; though neither of them liked it, and they both grew paler as D Day grew closer.

They also decided to all stay in Magnolia, because apparently Jude had gotten a house there, just in case they needed to stay in town for a bit. They would drop by the guild every day, and spend time training with the others.

Layla, however, spent most of her time snuggling with Lucy and Brandish when they weren't training; and while they were, Yukino (and Kagura, when she allowed it).

Lucy also tended to have Ophiuchus out on a near-permanent basis while in the guild, because he liked playing with Yukino when he was in a smaller form. Yukino, along with Kagura, Jet, Droy, and Reedus, who would be sitting the mission out, tended to spend time together out of everyone's way. Though Jet, Droy and Reedus all continued to practice magic, and Kagura started with a makeshift sword, something Hercules or Perseus would spend time teaching her (more constants that Lucy had out, though never at the same time.)

Hercules and Perseus were almost as bad as Corvus and Loke.

Almost.

Makarov wasn't happy about my suggestion of cancelling the Fantasia parade. Because of the timing, it would be easier to just skip the parade and rescue them. Makarov was upset because it had never been cancelled. I pointed out that since people always came to visit and that since we would probably get more people this year because of the incidents we caused at the games, cancelling the parade as well would amp up the hype even more.

And so I won the argument.

While we weren't able to do much of anything with the Cana's cards or my locating magic – unfortunately, there seemed to be something blocking a majority of the island – we were luckily still able to find it, because of Ultear's memories of the previous timeline.

And then it was time to attack.

* * *

"Is everyone ready?" I asked.

They all nodded. We didn't want too large of a raiding party (it would draw too much attention) but all of our group was there, with the exception of the five I mentioned previously.

Makarov dropped anchor, and our boat stopped. We were far away enough that the Tower wouldn't be able to spot us, but it wouldn't be too far to get everyone.

Laxus was still green.

"Lucy, you're a go!" I said to her.

She gave a determined nod. " _Open, Gate of the Chameleon! Chamaeleon!"_

With a burst of light, a lizard-like man appeared before us. "How may I help you, My Lady?" He asked, tipping his hat over to Lucy.

"Cam, it's time for the plan!"

He took a look around at the surroundings and nodded. "Whenever you're ready."

Juvia took a deep breath and jumped over the edge of the boat, into one of the smaller ones we were using.

We clamored after her, getting on our own boats. Eventually, five boats were in the water and we were settled in.

Cam, rushed before us, his arms stretching out for yards and yards until he encompassed all of the boats, his arms finally connecting to form a gigantic circle. "As long as you do not leave this area, we will be unnoticed."

Lucy nodded, and we turned to Juvia, who took a deep breath and raised a hand. Behind all of us, small waves surfaced, pushing all five boats forwards. I reached out and took her other hand, channeling some magic into her. Juvia was much better at control when it came to water, but I was good enough with Neptune to give her some back up and extra power.

The five boats neared the docks, and we all pulled to a halt.

"Remember the drill, everyone!" I said. "Be smart about this! And be careful. Stay with your partners."

Everyone nodded, and exchanged glances with their partner, with the exceptions of the ones without partners (aka Gildarts and Makarov).

We all activated out invisibility bracelets – like the ones that Freed had originally created when we fought Gildarts, but improved. It had replaced the space on my wrist that originally held the inhibiting bracelets. Ultear wasn't wearing hers either. This was no time for holding back.

I looked at the teams we had. Me and Laxus, Lucy and Brandish, Cana and Juvia, Gray and Lyon, Ultear and Evergreen, Levy and Freed, Nab and Bickslow, Macao and Enno, Wakaba and Erigor, Silver and Ur…

"Alright," I said calmly, taking a deep breath. "Let's go."

* * *

Another explosion sounded.

"Gee, great!" Laxus shouted sarcastically from next to me. "I'm sure that won't alert any guards!"

"Oh, shut up!" I yelled.

Jobs were split pretty simply; Cana, Juvia, Levy and Freed were to take on the magical alarm system that was blocking my location magic from working, as well as taking down as much spare weapons they could get a hand on.

Another explosion went off.

Things had started out pretty calmly, though I hadn't expected it to stay that way.

It _was_ Fairy Tail, which means that sooner or later, things will become extremely chaotic.

And it did.

Unfortunately, it was sooner.

"I don't understand," I muttered, putting my head in my hands as we ran. "We don't even _have_ Natsu yet."

"Who the hell is Natsu?" Laxus asked.

"A menace to society," I muttered. "I love him, but we're going to have to teach him a lot. Including common sense."

Another explosion went off, and an alarm sounded.

"You did pair Gray and Lyon together," Laxus said, running after me, while I was chasing after a card I made for Erza.

"Well, yeah, but still!" I said, running. "They know better!"

"Well, it could have also been Gildarts," Laxus continued. "Or hell, even Cana. You've spent most of your time planning this out, but when we were sparring, I found out that Cana has a new love for explosives. So, it was actually probably her."

"Great," I grumbled.

This was the biggest problem. The alarm system that was currently going off was what was also stopping my cards from tracking anyone down. I could still make the cards, but it wouldn't connect. Now though, I had whipped out the card and continued on my way.

Another explosion, louder than the other ones.

"Now _that_ was probably Gildarts," Laxus muttered from beside me.

Most of the kids were working on trying to sneak out the captives back to the boats (where Juvia would be after they took down the system) and the adults were trying to subdue as much cultists as they possibly could before the fighting started.

My biggest goal was to save the kids before Erza lost her eye or Rob died. In addition to this, once the kids learned about the rebellion we were doing, it was likely that Jellal wouldn't hesitate to use his magical power, which is why I was heading there immediately.

After all, according to Corvus, he had magical stored in his Astral Container from the last time around.

Their spirit had started the rebellion last time, and their passion would help rise other's spirits again.

But we had to hurry now that the alarms were going off – the guards would probably try to squash the rebellion, and they might just start straight-out hurting the slaves.

We rounded the corner, and stopped at the sight. "Nobody move, or the kid gets it! And then you'll be next!" the guard hissed.

He held one of their odd weapons up to Erza's neck. It buzzed with electricity dangerously.

Laxus smirked.

We walked into the room, invisible, and took positions; Laxus right next to Erza, and me in between the next line of guards and the other slaves, with Erza and the other guard in the middle.

"Ready?" I whispered. Our invisibility bracelets didn't stop sound, but as long as I was quiet enough, Laxus is the only person who would hear me, anyway, with his dragon hearing.

He nodded at me.

I was first. And I used a spell that I said I would only use on dangerous enemies – on those who really deserved it.

" _Mars's Wave of Agony_!" I shouted, and a wave of fire bellowed to the line of guards. They let out shrieks and screams as the fire consumed them, leaving them on the floor, their skin turned into burnt flesh.

 _They deserve it_ , I thought sickly, turning back to everyone else. Besides, they were still alive.

The guard holding Erza, let her go in a panic and started waving his tazer-like weapon in the air. "I'm warning you!"

Laxus cut off the invisibility rune, and stood there. "Warning me about what?"

It was then that the guard spotted his charcoal-like comrades, burnt up on the floor behind him. He had previously been facing the other way. His jaw dropped in horror, and he began to shake, before taking his weapon and sending a burst of electricity at Laxus.

Laxus opened his mouth and swallowed it whole.

The guard dropped his weapon in shock. "M-Monster!" he cried.

"Monster?" Laxus's voice hovered on a dangerous level, and he began to spark dangerously, his magical energy level rising. " _Monster_? Me? You're calling _me_ a monster? _You_?" his voice became a whisper. "I'm not the one torturing people."

The guard screamed and fainted.

Laxus stared at him in shock, his magical level dropping in surprise. "Really? _Really_? Are you fucking kidding me? I didn't even do anything!"

I snorted, deactivating my invisibility rune. "Don't complain!"

"It was going to be totally badass! And he ruined it." Laxus kicked the unconscious guard.

I rolled my eyes, turning back to the prisoners. "Hello. I'm Elle, and this is Laxus. We're from Fairy Tail, and we're here to rescue you."

"You're the kids from the LS!" a kid, who I recognized as Sho, cried.

I sighed.

"No." Erza stepped forward. "They're kids from Grandpa Rob's guild."

"Laxus?" a voice croaked. "Is that you?"

Rob stepped forward, looking at Laxus. "My, how you've grown. And what happened to your eye?"

"Ivan," I said flatly. "He's no longer with us."

Rob's eyes widened. "Ivan is dead?"

"No, he was excommunicated," Laxus said, rolling his eyes. "Elle just likes being dramatic."

"At least I'm not a tsundere," I replied.

"I'm _not_ a tsundere!"

Rob began to laugh. "It's nice to see that Fairy Tail hasn't changed since I've been gone."

I smiled at him. "No, we're much the -"

The whole building shook.

"Now _that_ was Gildarts," Laxus said.

I sighed and turned to the rest of the prisoners. "We're going to get you out of here. You might have to fight your way out, so grab your shovels. They haven't been feeding you much, but you've been doing hard labor, which means that you're strong. Don't worry about their weapons – we'll take care of that."

I turned to Jellal. "Jellal Fernandez," I said.

He blinked at me. "Yes?"

"How well can you use your magic?"

He looked away. "Not well. I'm not quite sure what to do with it."

"That's fine," I said. "Have you mediated?"

"I've been helping him," Rob said. "But we haven't had much, if any chance to do so."

I shook my head. "It's fine. Everyone, grab your things, and your shovels, and let's head out."

As we walked through the corridors, helping other people out of their own cells, people tended to form into groups. Erza, Jellal, and the rest of her group stuck close with Grandpa Rob and us, who were leading the charge.

"Wally, I've got a question for you," I asked him as we walked.

"What is it?" he asked curiously.

"Do you know where your brother is?"

He deflated. "No. Sometimes we would spend time together when we were working, but he was mostly kept in a different section from ours. And a week or two ago, someone came and took him away."

My heart started racing, and I was sure that I froze for a bit before I continued. "What do you mean? What did they look like?"

"They had dark skin, and white hair," Wally said.

"He was really tall, too!" Milliana piped up.

"He would mutter a lot," Jellal said. "Something about a girl ruining his plans, and how he needed to fix things and move his plans up."

My heart stopped and my mind raced to catch up.

In the original timeline, when Ultear saw what happened with her mom, she turned around and ran back to the Bureau. Brain continued to test on her, until she overloaded the circuit, and he realized she would be a bad match for him because he wanted to use Body Link magic.

But this time around…we shut down the Bureau. Not only did Brain lose Ultear, he lost all of his other test subjects. So…

That lead to him taking the Oracion Seis earlier this time around, when before he didn't collect them until _after_ Jellal was in charge.

Was this _my_ fault?

I shook it out of my mind. I would save them. I refused to leave the group of them to Brain's horrors. I could only hope that they were being better treated than they were here, though compared to what Ultear went through, I have no idea how true that was.

We kept going.

"Jellal, what do you know about your magic?" I asked him.

"Nothing," he said, sighing.

"You have something called Heavenly Body Magic," I said, as we moved through the building. "It's a type of Stellar Magic, and it's also a magic that has run through your family for ages."

Rob sighed. "Of course! The Fernandez Clan is known for producing Stellar Mages."

"Stellar Mages?" Erza asked.

"There are five types of stellar mages," I said, starting off.

"But three of them are considered Lost Magics," Rob said, absolute.

"Not true," I said.

He looked at me. "I don't know what you're saying, my dear. It's been long known that the other types have faded out. Most people won't even know what I mean, if I mention Priestesses of the Moon."

I smiled at him. "That's true, but I happen to know that they'll be resurfacing soon. After all…" I smirked. "I have Planetary Magic."

His eyes widened. "You do?"

"What's that?" Simon asked.

"It's another type of Stellar Magic," I said. "But it's probably considered the least pure."

"Now what do you mean by that?" Rob asked. "Planetary Magic is said to be extraordinary!"

"It's is!" I argued. "But it's based on the elements. On a _magical_ level, Celestial Spirit Magic is probably the purest form of magic there is, with exception of the One Magic. Heavenly Body Magic is the Caster Form of Celestial Spirit Magic, in which it takes the same type of magic and energy, but instead of connecting it to the heavens to summon others, it's used to power one's own body."

"Really?" Jellal asked, curious.

I nodded. "For instance, take the spell _Meteor_. It's speeds you up, and makes you extremely fast – fast as a meteor, hence the name."

"Wow…" he breathed.

"Could I do that, too?" Erza asked.

"If you wanted to, you _could_ learn Heavenly Body Magic," I admitted. "Technically, just about anyone could learn any type of magic. But it wouldn't be very strong as you would with your regular magic."

"My regular magic?" she asked.

I nodded. "Don't worry. I'll teach it to you, because I tend to use it as well. But I'm nowhere near as strong as you would be, once you've learned how to harness your magic."

" _Regulus Impact_!" a cry came, and a guard came flying our way.

I glared at the culprit. "Loke, go home! You're not contracted, it'll be harder for you to be here."

"No way!" he yelled, punching another guard. "I'm a member of Fairy Tail, too, and if that DAMN BIRD is fighting then SO AM I!"

"You're just upset because I'm stronger than you," Corvus said, coming out of the shadows and punching a guard trying to get a drop on Loke.

"Shut up, Corvus!" Loke shouted. "When I'm contracted to Lucy, I'll be more powerful than you and you know it. CATS beat BIRDS! Everyone knows that. And I am the Leader of the Zodiac! Are you the leader of anything?"

Corvus scoffed. "I'm a platinum key. I don't need to be the leader of anything. You know as well as I do that I'm higher than any gold keys."

"Stop being racist!" I yelled. Is racist the right word? Keyist? Colorist?...Metalist?

They both looked at me and I glared at them. "We're running a rescue mission, this is not the time for the two of you to get into your stupid dick measuring argument!"

"What's that mean?" Millianna, who was currently seven, asked.

"Nothing, dearest," I said absently, running a hand through her hair.

She purred.

Is she part cat? Is she related to Michello?...I just don't understand…

Not going to stop me from petting her, though.

"You guys seriously need to stop," I glared at the two of them.

"Who are these guys?" Wally asked.

"Friends," I said. I looked at Jellal. "Jellal, these two are Celestial Spirits, a type of Stellar Magic. This is Leo, the Lion, though he goes by Loke, and this is Corvus, the Crow. Both of them are strong enough to come out here on their own, without needing someone to summon them."

Rob stared at Corvus in amazement, after I confirmed his thoughts. "There's another Celestial Mage contracted to a Platinum Spirit?"

I snorted. "Lucy is contracted to the four lowest platinum spirits. She's not strong enough for the top three, so I haven't given those keys to her yet."

He stared at me in amazement. "You've got all of the Platinum Keys?"

"Yep," I said, before I sensed someone. "Oh shit. _Venus's Reflective Shield_!"

The golden light solidified between the group of slaves and the guards trying to attack.

"Laxus!" I yelled.

"On it!" he replied, activating his Lightning Body and jumping ahead around the shield, appearing behind each guard and giving them a swift kick mixed with lightning on their lower back, before moving onto the next one.

Within seconds, they were all down.

"Done," he said.

"Really?" I asked sarcastically. "I couldn't tell."

We continued, shuffling around corners before we came to the main spot in the lower floor.

"Oh shit!" I yelled, throwing up Venus's shield again.

We had arrived just to hear the end of Lucy's attack. " _Shine! Urano Metria!_ "

The planets flew towards the line of soldiers, pummeling all of them and sending them to the floor.

I pulled down the shield. "Damn it, Lucy, watch where you're aiming that thing!"

She laughed. "Don't be such a baby, Ellie-nee! I didn't even use Gemini, much less Star Dress!"

"What the hell?" Rob cried. " _Star Dress. This_ is the Celestial Mage? How old are you?"

"I'm eight!" Lucy smiled up at him. Corvus jumped down through the shadows, appearing next to Lucy and striking a guard who was trying to get back up.

"Thanks, Corvus!" Lucy smiled.

"Anything for my Princess!" Corvus said, trying to be gallant and dipping into a bow. It was ruined by Loke bursting into laughter.

"Don't make fun of me!" Corvus yelled, turning to him. "I know for a fact you've said the same thing to her!"

"Guys, stop being idiots and keep fighting," I shouted to them. Honestly, I don't understand why I even try sometimes. I really pity Lucy when she gets older.

She's going to be their Erza.

Despite their constant arguing, Corvus and Loke functioned much on the same level as Natsu and Gray did. Despite their constant fighting, they still fought well together and were…friends. Maybe. I'm not really sure about that part.

"Activate emergency protocol!" someone yelled.

I smirked. It didn't matter what they had for emergency protocol, because they wouldn't be able to-


	64. Tower of Heaven, Part Two

**Well...I didn't get nearly as much screaming as I anticipated.**

 **Let's up the ante, shall we?**

 **And as for Laxus... That will be explained _later._**

* * *

 **Chapter Sixty Four - Tower of Heaven, Part Two**

"One day, Zeref," a man said, gazing up at the stars. "We will finish this tower and bring you back."

"Oh?" a chilly voice asked from behind him, and a shiver of fear ran up the man's spine.

He spun around, and glared at the man who was invading the sacred space. "Who the hell are you?"

" _I'm_ the one you're trying to revive," he hissed. "And I am most _displeased_."

The man's face drained of color, and he stumbled backwards. "L-Lord Zeref?"

"Yes," Zeref said, moving forwards.

The man was shaking, unable to move from fear, when a shout rang up the stairs. "Activate emergency protocol!"

And this spurned the man into action. He jumped to the wall, opening a door and pulling down a lever before turning and looking at Zeref eagerly.

Screams rang up the stairwell, and Zeref turned to look back at them, before he turned back to the man, pinning him to the wall with an angry glare. "What did you do?"

"M-Monster!" the man stammered. "H-How? Why aren't you affected?"

Zeref started stalking forward, his aura and magical presence growing too an unimaginable pressure. "You are hurting my nakama. If you do not stop what you have started, this will be a lot more painful than it needs to be."

* * *

It was only when the pain stopped that I managed to come back to my senses.

And still, the pain didn't go away - there were still aftershocks running up and down my spine, and even just _breathing_ hurt.

We had collapsed on the floor, and out of the corner of my eyes, I spotted Laxus down, too, which told me that whatever this was, it hadn't been electricity – it was something else.

"Do you like it?" a guard asked haughtily, coming up to look at me. A few ways away from Laxus and I were Lucy, Loke and Corvus. Looking around, I caught sight of the slaves, who seemed terrified about what happened, but other than that, relatively fine.

"Elle! Laxus!" Jellal cried, trying to move closer, Erza right on his heels.

"Stay back," I whispered.

The guard stomped just a little too close to me for comfort, barely missing my fingers. "I see that you're a smart little lady. In fact, I'd even say that you were leading this _operation_."

On the last word, he pulled back his leg and kicked me sharply in the ribs.

I couldn't help but scream as white-hot pain raced through my body.

"Elle!" Laxus, Corvus and Loke cried.

"Ellie-nee!" Lucy shouted. "Stop hurting her!"

"What are you doing to her?" Jellal yelled. Distantly, a part of me noted just how vocal Jellal was as a kid compared to how quiet he ended up being as an adult.

The rest of me was too busy mentally screaming to think much deeper on the matter.

"See, we had a nice visitor named Brain awhile back," the guard continued. "And he suggested we make some adjustments to this place." He smirked evilly. "The one we had for here was simple enough, and would also stop the slaves from being hit – it only affects intruders. And now that it affects you, any pain you feel will be heightened."

"Damn you…Mashima…" I muttered, serious for once, the pain starting to fade to a possibly-manageable level. Brain was becoming a much bigger problem than I thought he'd be.

The guard pulled back his leg again. "Isn't that just great?"

"Stop!" Rob demanded, moving forward. "I may be an old man…but I still have magic in my bones. I will not allow you to hurt these children!"

"Stop him!" I told Erza and Jellal, who exchanged glances and then practically tackled Rob to the ground.

"Now, where were we…" the guard muttered. His face brightened. "Oh, yeah!"

"Don't touch her!" Laxus shouted, struggling to stand.

"Another interruption?" the guard sighed, before smirking and turning to Laxus. "And what are you going to do about it?" He grabbed me by the hair and pulled me up.

"Ahhh!" I yelled, my hands flailing as I tried to get him to let go. How was it possible for my _hair_ to hurt? Not only where they connected to my skull, but at the tips where he was holding it?

Laxus was on one knee, but he was closer to standing than he was before. He looked the guard directly in the eyes. " _Dragon Slayer Secret Art_ ," the voice came out quietly, with an echo-ey feel to it, reverberating through the cavern. " _Roaring Thunder; Elevated Impulse._ "

A small spark shot off of Laxus and hit the guard straight in the head. He laughed. "Is that all you got, kid? That barely even-"

He froze up, his body stiffening, before he arched his back and was screaming in pain. He let go of my hair and I began to fall, though Laxus luckily caught me before I hit the floor. If I simply landed on my knees, I'm sure it would hurt. Even the part of my arms where Laxus had caught me hurt, though nowhere near the level it would have been.

"What did you do to him?" I asked, as we watched the man scream and writhe on the ground, shaking in agony. Laxus ended the spell, and the guard was definitely out for the count.

"Exactly what he did to us," Laxus said in a dark voice. "I activated all of his nerve endings; our body runs on electrical impulses. If I didn't end the spell when I did, he probably would have passed out from the pain. Maybe even died."

"It would have been good riddance," Jellal muttered, kicking the man's unconscious body as they made their way over here.

" _Open…Gate of the Phoenix…"_ Lucy said weakly, though Corvus was already up and trying to carry her gently. Loke was still down.

Phoenix appeared in a circle of flames. "Shit, guys, what happened?"

"These dicks aggravated our nerve endings," I said. "So if you could fix that, that'd be great."

There was an explosion that went off somewhere else in the building.

"Looks like Gildarts is back up," I muttered.

Phoenix sent a wave at Lucy, Corvus and Loke, and I visibly watched them relax.

Then Phoenix turned and sent a healing wave over Laxus and I, and I started to feel better before I even realized it. Since I could stand on my own, Laxus stopped holding me up.

"I'll go heal the others," Phoenix said, before turning to Lucy. "Don't be afraid to force close my gate if it gets to be too much."

She nodded. "Thanks, Phoenix."

"Attack!" a series of guards yelled, rushing at us as they entered the cavern.

" _Venus's Reflective Shield!_ " I yelled, the golden wall spanning across the entire room and shuffling their attacks back at them.

"Are you guys alright?" Macao asked. He, along with Wakaba and Erigor, with Enno on his back, was running towards us.

"We're okay now. How about you?" I asked.

"Phoenix healed Enno and I," Wakaba said. "Erigor and Macao were flying when it happened, though."

"Enno got the worst of it," Erigor said.

I felt it before I heard it. "Shit!"

Turning around, I saw a series of explosions hit the shield, knocking it down and sending me flying a bit from the magical backlash.

"Elle!" Laxus yelled, catching me again. "You know, you're starting to get too heavy for me to catch so easily."

I gave him a glare of death. "Then you should work out more."

"They're open!" more of the soldiers charged forward.

" _Wind Wall_!" Erigor yelled, throwing up his own shield. It was a lot thinner, though, and not nearly as strong as it would be in the future.

"Jeez, is anyone else feeling a bit bummed?" Macao asked. "This was not as easy as we thought it'd be."

"If I had the right music, I'd be able to help," Enno grumbled. "But I still haven't found the right fighting song."

I froze.

I still didn't know much about Enno's magic, though the type of song she played could definitely enhance ongoing events. But if she needed a specific song in order to lift our spirits…

"Do you play violin?" I asked Enno.

She looked a bit surprised. "A bit. Not well."

I nodded and requipped it out anyway. Violin would be easier than her usual pan flutes for this. "Here," I handed it to her.

"What do you want me to do with it?" she asked. "I barely know how to play, much less any specific songs."

I requipped out one of Cana's Transplant cards – something that could essentially download information into someone's brain. An idea I'd gotten from seeing some of Hibiki's archive magic.

Closing my eyes, I concentrated, focusing on the music I had spent so much time listening to. It had been a few years since I've watched Fairy Tail – over three, to be exact – but that music would never leave me. Particularly the music you'd always hear whenever the tide of the battle was changing, and Fairy Tail was going to win.

I handed them both over to Enno, choosing the theme from the original and the 2014 version.

She held the card to her hand, downloading the music, and gasped when it was complete. Her eyes shot up to meet mine. "How…how did you know? That…it's perfect."

"I'll explain later," I said. "But you need to play." Reaching over, I turned up the dial for the area of affected magic from the violin, making it as loud as possible. "If we're lucky, this will reach the across the whole tower."

"Guys," I told Macao and Wakaba. "Make sure you cover her."

Enno took a deep breath and put the bow against the violin, before she began to play the 2014 theme rapidly, sawing her bow back and forth on the violin like her life depended on it.

The music filled every core of my body, upping my strength and shifting my power. Even mentally I got a lift.

"Holy shit!" Macao gasped.

"Amazing…" I whispered.

Looking around, I noticed that not only were the active Fairy Tail members glowing, but so were Erza and Jellal. Paying even more attention, I could see that the other kids were just barely glowing, having barely (if at all) started on unlocking their magic.

Laxus and I exchanged smiles.

"Erigor," I said. "Take down the wind wall."

He nodded. "In three…two…one."

The wall vanished and we both sprung into action. " _Cyclones of Saturn!_ " I shouted, creating two or three miniature cyclones that mowed over the guards.

" _Lightning Dragon Roar_!" Laxus shouted, downing the other half.

And even though they kept coming, and more guards kept attacking, we felt on top of the world, as if nothing could stop us. The tides of the battle were turning, and the men who came at us finally began to slow to a trickle.

"It's countering the runes!" Wakaba said happily.

"Runes?" I asked.

He nodded. "It turns out that there are runes surrounding the entire building, that's been channeling out magic power to source the tower. It can't handle more than a certain amount at once, though, which is why we are still able to use magic."

"Certainly explains the difficulties we've had," Macao said, grinning before throwing a series of attacks at the guards. " _Purple Rain_!"

I laughed and turned back to the fight, shouting, " _Jupiter's Shockwave_!" A wave of electricity went through the guards, and Laxus even stopped his fight to get a bite to eat from the left over energy.

Enno's music continued to fill my soul, giving me the spirit I needed to easily continue the fight.

And then an angry screeching noise filled the air, and we all fell down.

* * *

"Get down!" a voice yelled, and someone tackled her to the ground.

Juvia opened her eyes to see Gray above her, and he held out a hand to help her up. "You…you saved Juvia…"

"Well, of course…" Gray said. "We're friends…right?"

He was blushing, and Juvia could feel her cheeks heating up too. In the beginning, Elle had pointing out that both boys were cute, but now that she really got a chance to see it – "Ahhh, your clothes!"

Juvia's hands flew over her eyes and she turned away from Gray, who had yelled over his loss.

"Oh, get over it," Lyon said from a corner where he set a wolf on two guards. "You know as well as I do that we fight better without it."

"Yeah, the two of you should stop your damn flirting and get your heads back in the game!" Cana yelled at them.

"Haha, nice Cana!" Lyon said, high fiving her.

"We're not flirting!" Gray and Juvia said at the same time, and both looked away from each other and went back to fighting, though they remained in the same vicinity.

" _Water Slicer_!"

" _Ice Make; Arrows_!"

"Yes, Gray-san," Juvia said. "You are Juvia's friend."

Gray smiled, and Juvia felt her heart stutter a bit. "Good."

A horrible noise echoed down the corridor as the inspiring music stopped, and the four of them exchanged glances.

"That's not good," Gray muttered.

"We need to put our faith in them," Cana stated. "They're Fairy Tail wizards, just like us. They can take care of ourselves."

The three of them nodded.

"But just in case…" Cana said, turning back to her opponents and throwing her cards in the air. "We should finish this up, quick!"

"Right!"

* * *

Even when the noise stopped, we were unable to get back up. Laxus was the worst out of it, though, with his ears actively bleeding.

My ears had stopped ringing, but even hearing a man speak hurt them. "Well, we try not to use that one. After all, our strategy that messes with your nerves leaves the slaves unharmed. Their shackles protect them. But they can only protect them with a slight sound barrier, so this one ends up affecting them as well. While we would prefer to get the slaves back to work...we can always get more."

Ghoulish skeletal beings hovered around near the man who was speaking. "Now, finish them!" he commanded.

The creatures opened their mouth to fire at us. We were unable to move.

And then two pairs of legs walked past me. Looking up, I caught a glimpse of the face they belonged too.

Before I could do anything, Grandpa Rob spread out his arms and braced himself, casting fire and throwing it back at them.

The smoke faded, the world went silent, and we all watched as he collapsed in front of us.

It was different this time – maybe because he was younger, or maybe because he used less power, but he didn't die, or crumble to pieces like before. I could hear Erza and Jellal and the others screaming, and saw flying swords go after the soldiers that were still standing. Jellal's arms were stretched out, beams of light exploding outwards and hitting the rest of the soldiers that Erza missed.

Hauling myself up onto my arms, I dragged myself forward to Grandpa Rob, grateful I was so close by.

He was still breathing, and I refused to let him die.

"You're an idiot," I said, readying my magic. "You have Magical Deficiency Disease, don't you?"

"Yes," he breathed, coughing.

 _Saturn's Healing Winds_ wouldn't work then. Phoenix had already spoken to me about it – healing magic, no matter how powerful, doesn't work on Magical Deficiency Disease.

But luckily, I had magic that matched his – Mars. As well as Venus, which could act as purifying magic. If I used that to resupply his magic and then Saturn to heal him physically, then…

Closing my eyes, I took the strength of Venus and Mars and let them merge with the other, slowly putting it into Rob's body; sort of like a magical transfusion. I could feel the remains and echoes of the magic he had just used, and pulled those towards me to shift them back to him. This seemed to strengthen him, giving him color, and I let a small amount of Saturn run over him in order to fix the cracks on his body. I didn't have to worry about him falling apart.

Erza and Jellal, who had charged ahead of us, turned back after fighting, crying, though their tears slowed when they saw Grandpa Rob. "He should be okay, at least for now," I told them. "We just need to get him to Porlyusi-ack!"

Pain, unlike anything I had ever felt (probably because there was a type of lingering phantom pain from my nerve endings) ripped through my side, which I clutched in agony before collapsing to the ground.

Something came up my throat, and the cough that escaped left a splatter of blood not too far away from me.

"ELLE!" Laxus screamed.

And then three strikes of something outside of the tower came roaring down, engulfing people. My screams rang out, in addition to Lucy's and Jellal's, and then everything went black.

* * *

"What the?" I asked. "Where the hell am I?"

I was floating in a sea of disarray, like something out of Alice in Wonderland.

I continued to float past all sorts of things before I hit a set of large, bulky ornate doors.

The world stopped moving, and I took that as a sign.

"Alright," I muttered, and shoved the door open.

Inside was a place that was infinitely familiar, rows upon rows of bookshelves.

In the middle of it all, was a woman who was even more familiar.

"Oh shit," I muttered.

"Hello, Eleanor," God said. "Welcome back to my library."

* * *

 **I'm not apologizing.**


	65. Tower of Heaven, Part Three

**Y'all need to calm the fuck down.**

* * *

 **Chapter Sixty Five - Tower of Heaven, Part Three**

"ELLE!" The name left his lips in a scream.

He turned from the direction the shot came from, and his glaring gaze fell upon a man holding an old-fashioned gun – the type used _without_ magic, that fired _physical_ bullets.

"YOU!" he roared.

Laxus's body exploded in lightning, and he flew into the air, charging straight at the man. "YOU DARE? YOU DARE TO HURT HER?"

"I'm sorry!" the man squeaked.

" _LIGHTNING DRAGON IRON FIST!_ " Laxus shouted, punching him in the face. "OH, YOU'RE DEFINITELY GOING TO BE SORRY," before the other man was fully up, Laxus was in front of him again. " _LIGHTNING DRAGON HEAVENWARD HALBERD!_ "

The lightning-made halberd struck the man, and the white-hot anger Laxus had left with it, leaving only an empty, gaping hole where it used to be.

Laxus turned and flew back to the main center of the cavern, and he noticed Elle, Lucy, and the newer kid, Jellal, all lying on the floor unconscious.

But despite that, and her heavy breathing, Elle was still alive, and his heart felt like it was starting again.

"What happened?" he asked, coming to a halt and kneeling next to her.

"We're not quite sure," Macao said. "They're unconscious, but Elle's in bad shape, and the only ones who know healing magic are her and Phoenix, and Phoenix's gate closed when Lucy was hit."

Laxus desperately turned, searching. "Corvus!" he shouted, his voice cracking. "Where are you?"

Corvus came out of the shadows. "Sorry, I was cleaning up a mess on the other side of the island."

"Can you ask your brother to come out on his own and help heal Elle?" Laxus asked. "She was shot. Like…actually _shot_."

His voice cracked again.

Corvus frowned, but nodded and returned to the Celestial Spirit world.

"Woah, what the hell happened here?" Gray asked, entering their space.

Laxus whirled around to glare at him, Lyon, Nab, Ultear, Evergreen, Bickslow, and Brandish, who for some reason had separated from Lucy. "Where the _fuck_ have you been?"

"Helping people escape," Ultear said cooly. "Why?"

It was Brandish's gasp that alerted everyone to the problem. "Lucy…Nora…"

"Nee-san…" Ultear whispered, her face paling.

"Shit," Bickslow said. "What happened to Big Sis? And Lucy, for that matter."

"For some reason, those three were hit by something and passed out. In addition to that, though, Elle got shot only a little bit before."

"Are you guys alright?" Cana asked, rushing into the room, followed by Juvia, Freed and Levy – Juvia exchanging a blushing glance with Gray on the way. "What happened?"

A burst of flame appeared, and Phoenix joined the part, Corvus phasing into existence a little bit afterwards.

"ONEE-SAMA!" Juvia shrieked, running forward as she noticed Elle. Instead, she was held back by Freed.

"Juvia-san, we mustn't disturb Phoenix," he said, his face pale and his voice shaking. "I'm sure he will help Ella-sama, but we must put our faith in him."

"Oh, that's not good," Phoenix said, running to Elle and holding a hand over the entrance wound.

"What's not good?" Corvus asked.

"You know, other than the fact that she might be dying," Laxus said sarcastically and angrily, turning to them, impatient over everyone _talking_ when they should be _moving_.

To the surprise of everyone, Brandish lifted her head and pinned Laxus with a glare. "You need to calm down, Dreyar. We understand you're upset, but that's no reason to take your anger out on your nakama."

Laxus swallowed, took a deep breath, and nodded. "Fine…just…" he looked away. _I need to distract myself_. "What were you doing, anyway? Weren't you supposed to be partnered with Lucy?"

"Corvus and Loke assured me that they would have her back, and so I stuck with Nab and Bickslow for a bit so I could make all of the boats bigger, so we could carry more people as we evacuated."

Laxus nodded, watching over Elle and Phoenix.

"You're going to need to do it," Phoenix said to Corvus.

"What?" Corvus yelled. "I can't heal!"

"Not that!" Phoenix said. "The bullet didn't exit. You need to pull it back out. I won't be able to do it, it'll heat up and burn her. And while it's possible that it could essentially cauterize her from the inside out, that's generally _not something that can be done to humans_. Or anything."

"Wait!" Brandish said. "I can make the bullet smaller, so it comes out easier. At least that way, removing it should hurt her less."

Corvus nodded and moved over, and Brandish put a hand above the wound, closing her eyes and concentrating. It was a tense few moments before she pulled her hand away, and Laxus could easily hear the beat of his heart in the wake of the silence. "Alright, it's less than half of its original size. Is that good?"

"Yes, thank you," Corvus said, taking over. Using an extremely small shadow, he sent it inside the wound and tightened it around the bullet, coaxing it out until it was free.

"Good," Phoenix said, pushing Corvus over and using enough healing magic to close the wound. He turned to the others as he finished, though he was breathing a little heavily, and Laxus remembered that he was out here on his own accord. "Is anyone else hurt?"

"What about Lucy and Jellal?" Erza asked.

Phoenix shook his head. "Nah, they're fine. All three of them are just unconscious, though Elle is definitely going to need to be careful with it for the next few weeks. Even with healing, it will be sore for awhile, and she'll have some phantom pain."

Laxus nodded, feeling relived as he relaxed by Elle's side and pulled her head onto his lap, brushing her hair out of her face. He'd make sure that she didn't strain herself, in the coming weeks.

"I don't understand," Erza said. "Why did all three of them pass out? What was that, from the sky?"

"While I'm not sure if I can answer your questions about the sky or why they passed out…" Corvus said. "I do know that there is definitely one thing that they all have in common."

"And what's that?" Laxus asked.

"They all use Stellar Magic."

* * *

"Uhhhhhh," I stated, drawing a bit of a blank. "I'm not dead, am I?"

I couldn't be dead. There was so much more shit I needed to do. The Oracion Seis was still missing, the Dragon Slayers hadn't even arrived yet. I couldn't let Gajeel go through Phantom Lord again. That just wasn't fair, to him, Levy, or Fairy Tail. And Wendy shouldn't have to go through the whole ghost ordeal…

"No, you're not dead," she smiled softly. "You're just in a coma."

"THAT'S NOT MUCH BETTER!" I screeched.

Though that was kinda a lie; at least I didn't have to try to start over, or do something else entirely. I don't think I could handle that...

She gave a small chuckle. "Don't worry, you'll wake up before anything happens. You'll still have time for all of your plans."

I breathed a sigh of relief and followed her over to a table, where she sat down.

"So…." I began awkwardly.

She gave another laugh. "Hello, Elle. I do have a few things to say." She leaned forward. "First, I'm proud of you."

My throat clogged up, and I felt a familiar burning sensation behind my eyes. "What?" I croaked.

She smiled at me again. "I'm proud of you, Elle. I've been watching, and I must say, I'm very proud of the decisions you've made, with the exception of a few…but those are understandable, considering your age."

I frowned, and I deterred from the nonsense she was saying and finally brought up something that had been bothering me. "So, I have a question. How old am I, really?"

"Well…it's kinda complicated," she hummed thoughtfully. "You see…I couldn't exactly store all of the knowledge of a nineteen-year-old into a nine-year-old's brain properly. There would…well, it's not that there wouldn't be enough room, but it wouldn't exactly be compatible. I put a block on most of your memories; enough so that you can still easily remember them, but also so they wouldn't overwhelm you. That's why when you get too close to the past, you start to feel so overemotional. You're thinning the barrier, and the emotional turmoil from it starts leaking into your consciousness."

I paused, staring at her. "What?"

She sighed. "Look, how well do you remember your previous life? When is your first clear memory?"

"I guess it would be…here," I said, frowning. "It's a lot clearer than anything before it."

She nodded. "There's a type of aura surrounding this place that tends to make it happier, and easier to be in. So I can understand that. You wouldn't have felt all of your serious emotions in here, and since you went directly from here to your new world, you've never really felt the full brunt of your previous emotions and experiences."

"What…what do you mean by that?" I asked. A rock was sinking in my stomach.

That seemed to be a common problem, lately.

"Elle…your previous life was horrible. Another reason I locked it away was so you could get the childhood you never got the first time around. The one you deserve."

It couldn't have been that bad, could it? I mean, I didn't try to commit suicide, or even consider it...

And suddenly I wasn't so sure that was entirely true.

"So…" I asked, focusing on my original question. "How old am I, really?"

"You're in a type of limbo state," she said. "But truthfully, you're closer to your physical age, mentally. Your memories will release slowly over time, so you can handle them easier, and by the time you're nineteen, you'll remember everything."

"Oh," I said quietly.

"Don't worry," God said. "You're strong, and you can handle it. And I'll be there if you need me."

I blinked at her. "How?" I asked. "Aren't you busy?"

She gave me a confused look. "Elle, you aren't the only person I'm speaking to right now. I am everywhere, always helping other people. I'm probably speaking to a few hundred people, currently. And watching over many other people's lives. Some of them are quite interesting."

So…God had ADHD. Huh. Who knew?

I hesitated, before blurting out. "Why am I like this? So messed up? Why are we all like this?"

"People are not meant to be perfect…" God said.

"But I thought we were made in…Your image," I said.

"Yes, but no. Mankind was always supposed to be a creator with me as well. Step by step, side by side. That is why people are not perfect, and thrown into a series of random situations. Free will is what matters, and it's up to _them_ what they do with it." She turned back to me. "Do you understand?"

"I think so," I said quietly. "It's okay to be different, or 'messed up' and we can take steps we think are necessary to change it…"

"That's good to know," she smiled. "Now, I believe our conversation is almost over. Are you ready to wake up?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Remember…time passes differently here. You'll still wake up in time, though…and I have some gifts for you…"

* * *

Lucy blinked up at the world around her. It was so pretty…

She stopped rotating so she could see when she came across a giant man with a ridiculously-long mustache.

"Hello!" she called out cheerfully. "My name is Lucy! What's yours, sir?"

"I am known as Cepheus," the giant said.

"Cool!" Lucy said. "That's a cool name. You've got a cool mustache, too, mister!"

The odd man smiled.

"Where are we?" Lucy continued.

"This is the Celestial Spirit world," Cepheus said.

Lucy's mouth dropped and her eyes grew wide. "This _is_?"

Cepheus nodded.

"How am I here?" Lucy asked. "I thought humans can't go to the Celestial Spirit World."

"You are here only in spirit, not in body," Cepheus explained.

"Does this mean that you are a spirit, too?" Lucy asked eagerly.

"Yes, I am," he said.

Lucy paused. "Wait, does that mean you remember the other timeline?"

Cepheus nodded his ginormous head.

"Did I ever have your key?"

He paused, then shook his head.

"Then…" Lucy lowered her eyes. "Maybe you can tell me, because sometimes I don't know if my spirits are telling the truth…"

Cepheus was quiet, waiting for her to speak.

"Was I a good Celestial Spirit Mage in the last timeline?" Lucy cried.

"What do you mean by that?" Cepheus asked.

"I mean my spirits, they were still my friends, right? I didn't become a bad wizard…or be mean to them…"

His face softened. "Princess Lucy Heartfilia…I can tell you right now that you are possibly the greatest and kindest Celestial Spirit Mage to ever exist, in whatever timeline."

Lucy's eyes teared up. "Really?"

He nodded.

She ran forward and hugged him, which was more than a little difficult, considering his size. "Thank you, Mustache-Man!"

He gave a throaty laugh. "You do not need to thank me for speaking the truth, my dear. Now, old friend…" he looked up at the sky. "I believe that it's time for you to wake up."

Lucy nodded. "Alright. It was nice meeting you, Cepheus! I hope I'll see you again, soon!"

"Learn how to Astral Project, and I think you'll do just fine," the spirit said, chuckling.

* * *

Jellal backed away from what he was watching in horror. "What? What is this? Stop it!"

"This is what happened last time around," a deep voice from behind him said.

Jellal spun around, and saw an older version of…himself? "What do you mean?"

The other Jellal ignored him and looked upon the scene. "It's well-known that Eleanor Rigby knows the future. But it's not exactly true, and that's something you will learn as you join the Fairy Tail guild. She actually knows what happened originally, and she is trying to stop all of that from happening in the first place." The man paused, looking at the scene. "We owe her everything, otherwise that would have become reality."

Jellal gasped, and fell to his knees. "I killed Simon! And…and tried to kill Erza!"

"There is no need to cry," the older Jellal said, and Jellal looked up at him. "That future has been avoided."

"But…Jellal.." he paused. It was odd to talk to himself like this…

"Call me Siegrain," the man interrupted.

"Siegrain, then…" Jellal said. "It's not that we managed to avoid it, it's that I let it happen in the first place. I did this! I could do it again! I'm evil!"

The older man sighed. "We spent most of this time being controlled, and influenced. It...It wasn't really our fault…"

 _Why is it so hard for you to admit it, then?_ But Jellal kept quiet, and when he finally spoke, he didn't voice that question. "Why would you show me this?"

"So you know the possibilities," he said. "So you don't let it happen again."

"And one last thing…" Jellal spoke. "Who are you? If you're from another timeline, how are you here?"

"I'm the part of you that awaits on the Astral Plane," Siegrain said, starting to fade. "And you'll understand what that means soon enough."

And then Jellal woke up.

* * *

"Jellal!" A scarlet-haired monster lobbed herself at him, and he felt something hard and metal hit him on the head as he was pulled into a hug. "I was so worried about you!"

"Erza?" he asked. "You're hurting me."

Erza backed up, and he smiled at her. Though she was dressed a bit oddly, with a type of armor coating her, she seemed brighter than ever, and much louder.

"Did everyone get out okay?" Jellal asked.

Erza frowned, and Jellal noticed where he was. "Is this…an infirmary?"

"Fairy Tail's," Erza said.

Jellal gasped as he recognized the people in the other beds. "Elle! And Lucy!"

Erza nodded. "You're the first one up. Which probably supports Master's theory about using magic."

Jellal noticed the insignia on her arm. "You got your guildmark!"

Erza nodded. "Yep! We're waiting on you. Come on!" Before she left, she turned to the other awake person in the room. "Laxus? Are you coming?"

As Jellal got out of his bed, he spotted the other boy sitting next to Elle, watching over her. "No. I'm good."

Erza left, and Jellal followed her down a flight of stairs, his knees still a little wobbly. "What's the theory? You know, that you said the Master had."

"Everyone who got hit used a type of Stellar Magic. Or, were born into a bloodline with Stellar Magic. There's a little girl here who hasn't started practicing her magic yet, and she got hit for a few seconds, but woke up almost immediately afterwards. Compared to Elle and Lucy, you've been practicing your magic the least. Following this pattern, Lucy should be the next one up."

"Okay," Jellal said, before pausing as they reached the bottom of the stairs. "Wow." He stared at the chaos in front of him. "What's this?"

"A party, for Grandpa Rob," Erza said, tears starting to well in her eyes. "I'll explain more later, though…come on." She dragged him away.

"Where do you want your mark, my boy?" asked a small man sitting on the table. "I'm Master Makarov, and I'm the one in charge of this circus."

"Uhhh…" Jellal looked over and saw where Erza had her mark. "Here!" he pointed to it on the opposite arm for him. "And in red."

"Alrighty, then!" Makarov said cheerfully, pressing the stamp onto his upper arm. The red matched Erza's hair perfectly…the same way that her blue stamp matched his hair.

Maybe it was a coincidence, but Jellal liked it.

"Now, my children…go enjoy the party while it lasts!"

* * *

In addition to meeting members of the guild, Jellal also met the guildmasters of Blue Pegasus and Quatro Cerberus.

And learned that when Erza had said that 'they' (the rest of their group) were waiting on him, she didn't mean that everyone else had already gotten their guildmarks – just that they'd already made their decisions.

"You guys are serious?" Jellal asked them, wide eyed.

"We promise we'll visit!" Millianna said. "But…we want to join some other guilds. This is a bit too much for us."

"All of you?" Jellal asked in shock, before turning to the two who had joined Fairy Tail. "Erza, Simon, help me out."

Simon was too busy doting on his younger sister by three years, and Erza was spending just as much, if not _more_ time with her than he was.

 _Okay, think Jellal. What will help them stay…_

"Millianna, didn't you like it when Elle was petting you? If you stay, you'll get it more often."

Her face started to get conflicted.

"And Wally, what about your brother! You know that Fairy Tail and Elle will help you find him."

Wally's face joined Millianna's in confliction.

"Sho, don't you want to be near Erza? She's practically your sister, at this point. And more than that, there's that girl, Cana. She's a card mage, she can tell you more about your magic."

They all were looking worried, but it wasn't enough.

Jellal searched his mind frantically. He had met so many people over the past hour…

"Lyon!" he called.

The ice kid ran up. "Yeah, Jellal?"

"You can make _dynamic_ ice, right?" Jellal asked.

"Yeah."

"Can you make me a mouse, please?"

"Sure," Lyon said, shrugging. " _Ice-Make; Mouse_."

A tiny little mouse sprung up in front of them and Millianna ran towards it excitedly. "Oh, a mouse!"

"I'm sure if you ask, someone around here grows catnip, Millianna," Jellal said.

She bit her lip, thinking. "Fine, I'll stay!" and then ran off after the mouse, which was already making its way across the room.

Jellal turned and looked at the last two.

"That's just playing dirty," Wally said.

"It won't be forever," Sho said. "But I'll stay. So I can learn more about my magic."

"Fine," Wally said. "When I get my brother, though, I'm leaving."

But Jellal felt like cheering, because this means that he already got something done right.

Fairy Tail was all about family, and he'd be damned if he let some of his family go.

* * *

 **Here's some Ellaxus, Jerza, and a pinch of Gruvia for you.**

 **So I might have to take a short hiatus here; I need to do some adulting, and I'm also having some trouble working out the transitioning to the next major point. (I know what I'm doing, I'm just having trouble getting it down).**

 **Also, for those of you interested, the beliefs mentioned are beliefs that come from Jewish mysticism, also known as Kabbalah. As I said before, I'm Jewish, and these beliefs are a big part of me.**

 **I've seen people give the Celestial Spirit King the name 'Orion' (because it's a fucking prominent constellation) but I don't understand why when there's already Cepheus, who was literally _named after a king in Greek mythology, so..._**


	66. Rob

**You should all enjoy the fluff while it lasts. The next two arcs are going to be pretty angsty... :3**

 **Also...boys, get the fuck over it.**

 **Also, I'm sorry the chapter is shorter than usual. The next...few...are probably going to be a bit smaller than usual. I didn't get all I wanted to done this week, but you guys deserved a little bit.**

* * *

 **Chapter Sixty Six - Rob**

The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was Laxus.

"Laxus?" I asked.

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Elle! I'm so glad you're up! Promise to never do that again!"

I blinked at him. "What?"

He glared at me. "You terrified me. Promise you'll never do that again."

I glared back. "It's not like it's my fault I got shot. Or was hit by whatever happened next. It just sorta happened!"

"Oh, right…" he relaxed.

I sweatdropped. "Really?..."

"Ellie-nee!" Lucy tackled me, even though I was already sitting down. "You're awake! I'm so happy!"

"Hey, Lucy," I said, hugging her. "How are you?"

"I'm okay!" Lucy said happily. "I only woke up a few hours ago."

Laxus smiled at us and went over to the door. "Guys, Elle is awake!" he shouted down the stairs.

The rumbling that came from the doorway made me laugh. Just about all the kids stampeded into the room.

"Ella-sama!"

"Onee-sama!"

Freed and Juvia joined the tackling party, and ended up with me and Lucy on the small bed. Jet approached from the side, with tears in his eyes. "Ellen-nee…"

"Hey," I said, grabbing them and hugging them. "It's alright. I'm fine, okay?"

"We want hugs, too, Elle-nee-chan!" Cana yelled, jumping in on the group hug, and she was quickly followed by just about everyone else, even the new kids from the Tower of Heaven.

"Ack! Guys, I need to breathe!"

Eventually, the kids let up, and each picked seats in some of the chairs in the infirmary or the beds adjacent to mine.

"I have a few questions," I said, turning to Laxus. "Did everyone get out alright?"

He nodded. "Yeah, we're all made it out alive, and the only ones with real injuries were the three of you."

"What do you mean, the three of us?" I asked him.

"Apparently, you, Lucy and I were all hit by something from the sky, and ended up unconscious from it."

Lucy nodded. "Mommy and Daddy were very upset, until they learned that it would've happened anyway."

"Happened anyway?" I asked her, aghast.

"Yukino got hit, too," Kagura said.

"Yukino?" I called, looking for her. She climbed to the front and curled up on the bed with me (and also Juvia, Freed and Lucy).

"Apparently, how quickly we woke up was determined by how long we've been practicing magic," Jellal said. "Which is why Yukino was barely unconscious for any time, I woke up a few days later, and you and Lucy were both out for three weeks."

"Three weeks!" I shrieked. I mean, yeah, it wouldn't really interfere with my 'plans' but it was fucking annoying.

I sighed, shook my head, and turned to Yukino. "Did we find your sister?"

She shook her head, and curled into me more.

I sighed, turning to Wally. "Did we find your brother?"

He shook his head.

"What about your friend, Sawyer?" I asked Jet.

"No."

"Alright, don't worry," I said. "I promise you, I'll find them, and I'm pretty sure that they're actually all together, so it won't be so hard."

"Alright," Wally said. Millianna leaned closer, putting her head near my head, and I absentmindedly began petting her. I was starting to see a pattern here. Until I got an exceed, I'd probably spend a lot of time petting Millianna.

"Where are the adults?" I asked.

At this, all of the kids deflated.

"What?" I asked.

Jellal was the one who spoke. "They're…they're preparing Rob's funeral."

I froze.

"What?"

* * *

"What the hell happened?" I shrieked, bursting down the door.

"Elle?" Gildarts asked.

"Rob can't be dead! He just can't! I _changed_ it this time, I saved him - he can't be dead!"

Makarov sighed, before walking up to me. "I'm afraid he has already moved on…"

I fell to my knees. No. This…this was stupid. He couldn't be dead.

I had failed. For real, this time. This wasn't something that could be fixed.

 _Does this mean that everyone else will die, too?_ I thought. _Layla, Jude, Silver…the dragons…Ultear…Simon…_

Who knows if I even saved Simon. He could always die soon enough…

 _You saved Ur_ , a part of me pointed out.

 _UR NEVER DIED!_ I screamed back at it.

 _What about Ame_?

I relaxed a bit. I did save Ame, yes. But Ame wasn't considered a 'main' or even 'important' character by Hiro Fucking Mashima, and it took a combined effort plus special magical assistance (like the special Celestial Potion, and the lacrima she was stored in) before we were able to save her.

 _Everything is going to die eventually_.

I know that, I really do. But why did it have to be _now?_

"I need to thank you, Elle," Makarov said.

I looked up at him. "Why? I failed. He's gone."

"You gave him a chance to say goodbye," Makarov said gravely, pulling me into a hug. Since I was already on the ground, it actually went well. "You had mentioned that the original time, he had died saving Erza. But this time, he got to say goodbye to those children, as well as return and say goodbye to the rest of his old team. Thanks to you, Porlyusica, Yajima, Bob, Goldmine and I all got to say goodbye to him."

"Thank you."

* * *

Laxus (and Porlyusica) were both extremely upset that I had gotten out of bed like that.

Apparently, I wasn't supposed to move for another three weeks, until after Laxus's birthday.

Joy.

Laxus, as well, decided to take it one step further.

"Laxus, this is ridiculous," I said. "Put me down."

"No," he said.

Laxus was giving me a piggy back ride – as he had done any other time I had to move.

"I can _teleport,_ Laxus," I pointed out.

"This is fine," he insisted.

Laxus had started up a pattern of carrying me places.

It was becoming extremely annoying.

I mean, it's super sweet, but the wound doesn't hurt.

The only time he would let me teleport was to go home, and even then, he would go with me, put me in bed, and order Yukino to make sure I don't get out of bed at night.

Yukino accepted this mission with everything a two year old could.

Rob's funeral was early into November, around the time of the Cherry Blossom Festival – something which hadn't become an event yet.

Makarov explained how their team would always take a day off for this, and the day after Rob's funeral, he constructed the Cherry Blossom Festival, so all of Fairy Tail would celebrate it.

The next week celebrated the Festival (during which, Laxus carried me everywhere, and Erza won bingo...starting her winning streak early, apparently), and then Kagura's seventh birthday, on the 9th. It also celebrated the _official_ opening of Fairy Fields, something that the rest of the guild helped create while we were training and infiltrating the Tower. It was a series of suites with connected bedrooms, for those with family members in the guild. Kagura and Simon were staying there (in fact, they'd moved in while I was still unconscious (that's what I meant by 'official'), with Yukino staying in the hospital wing with me), and Yukino and Sorano would probably get a suite for themselves too, along with the Strauss siblings. Sho also insisted on staying with Erza; at least for the time being.

With Kagura gone, Yukino ended up curling into bed with me each night, which didn't surprise me. I prefer it to leaving her alone in a crib, anyway…especially since 'according to Laxus's rules' I wouldn't be able to check on her in the middle of the night.

* * *

With the rest of November came Porlyusica, Wakaba, and Laxus's birthdays (and of course, my freedom to walk).

Once again, Laxus's growth – specifically the celebration of his 15th birthday – prompted me to freak out.

"PORLYUSICA!" I screamed, bursting down her door. "I HAVEN'T GOTTEN MY PERIOD!"

She spun around and wacked me with a broom. "What did I say, brat! Stop. Bothering. Me." She accentuated each word with a smack on my head from her broom.

"But I had already gotten it last time around!" I commented, batting away the broom. "When I was twelve and a half. But I haven't gotten it yet."

She hit me again, even though I could've sworn I'd just knocked it out of her hand. Oh well, Porlyusica may not have a magical container, but she has a special type of magic, anyway. "I _mean_ because of your delayed growth spurt, even your puberty will be hitting later. You probably won't get your period from anywhere between six months to two years."

Wait. Two _years?_

Don't get me wrong, I fucking hate my period, especially the cramps (though Porlyusica might be able to help with that) but does that mean that I'm not going to grow for another _two years_?

"I don't want to seem ten forever!" I whined to her.

She glared at me, waving her broom threateningly. "Get out of my house, brat!"

And I booked it.


	67. Business (as in 'Stay Out' and 'Royal)

**Sorry about Rob's death, but after piecing together what I could of the original story and how magic works, there's no way he would have survived. :(**

 **Also slight spoilers for Dragon Cry. The movie is on YouTube, (like actually on YouTube, it's 1 hr 18 min) but it starts off with really bad quality. You should watch it anyway.**

 **Also, I switched out the poll again. You'll learn what gender the baby is when it's born.**

 **Some Ellaxus and Jerza for ya.**

* * *

 **Chapter Sixty Seven - Business (as in 'Stay Out' and 'Royal')**

It was a bit odd, how big the guild was getting. Especially since all the new kids were still trying to find their niche, which also lead to Lucy and Brandish staying at the guild for a longer period of time to help.

Erza was joining Kagura with sword training lessons, and Cana had started teaching her the basics of requip – something that Ultear ended up joining in on, now that she was spending more time with her Arc of Time. While she could, of course, manipulate things around her, it's also handy for her to have some things on hand.

Now that I was awake, though, I was able to give them my book from my requip space.

Simon was learning about using his darkness magic from Corvus, Sho was spending a lot of time with Cana for his card magic, and Wally was spending a lot of time with Gildarts, Juvia, Brandish, and Freed, in order to get ahold of his odd block-like magic.

Millianna was spending some time with Macao, oddly enough, and was having some difficulty learning her magic, but it was still coming along.

Now that Jellal was awake and had time to mediate properly, he was jumping by leaps and bounds. Corvus told me that he was using what he had on the Astral Plane to give him a boost.

Jet was also improving his magic, because Maggie kicked Rex out of the house, and Rex was training Jet in speed magic to help with his nerves.

Speaking of Maggie, she had gotten huge – and by Porlyusica's estimates, she'll give birth by the end of the year.

Isn't that a bit of an odd thought?

Finally, now that everything was settled, (and I could walk on my own again) I had some things I had to do.

First, I had to visit Hisui.

* * *

"We need to talk."

Jellal stopped walking and turned to the speaker. "Alright. What's up?"

Laxus shook his head and made his way to the door. Jellal looked around the training room suspiciously before shaking off his concerns and following Laxus outside.

"What do you want?" Laxus asked when Jellal came to a stop.

Jellal looked at him, confusion crossing his brow. "What?"

" _What_ do you _want_?" Laxus asked.

"Uh…"

"With Elle!" Laxus clarified. "You're always following her!"

He blushed. Jeez, was it that obvious? "No, I'm not."

"You're blushing!" Laxus said angrily. "So what the hell? Do you like her?"

"No!" Jellal said.

"I don't believe you!" Laxus replied.

"I don't like her!"

"Liar!"

"I like Erza, not Elle!" Jellal yelled back, before freezing and spinning around, and sighing in relief when he realized that Erza wasn't there.

"Erza?" Laxus asked, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Yeah. Why?" Jellal looked back at him. "Do you like Elle?"

Laxus started sputtering, and looked away. "What? I – no!"

"You're blushing," Jellal said.

"Shut up," Laxus muttered, before finally looking back to Jellal. "Why do you follow Elle around then?"

Jellal looked down. "I…I'm grateful to her. When I was unconscious, I saw a glimpse of a different possibility – of the future that would have happened if she hadn't interfered. I owe her everything."

Laxus nodded slowly. "But you don't like her?"

"I see her as more of a sister than anything else," Jellal said.

Laxus relaxed. "Good."

Jellal stared at him. "You totally like her."

"I do not!"

"Jeez, you _are_ a tsundere."

* * *

Since it wasn't an emergency, I walked into the castle like a normal person, during which the Royal Receptionist let me in, immediately contacting Ame, who met me in the hall.

"Elle!" she cried, rushing to embrace me. I froze a bit as she hugged me.

"I was so worried," she whispered, pulling me in closer, and I finally relaxed and returned the hug.

First Layla and now Ame.

I took a step back and looked at the ceiling, as if I could see past it and watch the sky.

 _Is this your doing? Are you…giving me a mother?_

"I'm fine," I said aloud, shaking it off to smile at Ame. "I was on bed rest for a while, so I wasn't able to visit. How's Hisui?"

Ame looked confused. "Hisui is fine."

I frowned. "Are you sure? She wasn't hit by an odd light in October?"

Ame's eyes widened. "She did, but…we checked it over with healers, and they all said it was fine. How do you know? Is it something from the future?"

I shook my head. "No, it's not. But as far as I know, everyone from the newest generation of the Stellar bloodlines got hit. Lucy and I were unconscious for about three weeks. And then I was recovering from getting shot."

"YOU WERE SHOT!" Ame screamed, grabbing me and hugging me, before pushing me away, gripping me shoulders and her eyes searching me frantically. "DID I HURT YOU? ARE YOU OKAY?"

"Ame, I'm fine!" I said reassuringly. "I'm healed, alright! Bedrest is over, it's just a scar now!"

"You were still shot!" she yelled, shaking me, before she realized what she was doing and stopped. "Did I hurt you?"

"Ame? What's taking so long?" Toma peeked his head in, with Hisui in his arms, who lit up at the sight of me.

"Ellie-nee!" she shouted, squirming in Toma's arms until he let her down. She ran over to me, and I scooped her up, causing Ame to gasp.

"Hisui! Get off of her _this instant_!" Ame shrieked.

"Ame?" Toma asked. "What's wrong?"

"She's just upset I got shot," I said.

Okay, so I probably should have put that a bit better.

"You got shot!" he yelled.

"What 'fot' mean?" Hisui asked.

I looked at her. "I got hurt really badly last month, which is why it took me so long to visit. I wasn't allowed to leave." I looked back at her parents. "But I'M FINE NOW, so there's no need to worry."

Hisui nodded, and snuggled into my arms.

Toma and Ame exchanged a look.

I sighed. "Let's sit down. We have some things we need to discuss."

Toma led me over to a sitting room, and the four of us sat down; Toma and Ame next to each other, and Hisui on my lap as I sat across from them.

"So…you were shot…" Toma said. "Does this have anything to do with the Tower of Heaven incident?"

I blinked at him. "I didn't know so many people knew."

He snorted. "I'm sure the entire country knows. I blame that Jacob fellow. No, the fact that Fairy Tail stopped a cult from trying to revive Zeref _and_ caught the people who had been kidnapping children and murdering parents left and right is well known."

"Jeez," I muttered, before nodding. "Yeah, that's when I got shot. But another thing happened as we were finishing up; me, Lucy, and another kid named Jellal were all struck by some odd of beam from the sky. I'm mainly checking up to see if Hisui is alright. Another girl of the five Stellar bloodlines was still at the guild, but got hit anyway."

Toma nodded, a dark look on his face. "And you don't know what it is?"

I shook my head. "No, I don't. After getting hit by it, Jellal, Lucy and I were all unconscious. We stayed unconscious for a certain amount of time, which we think was based on how long we've been using magic. Jellal was only out for a few days, and Lucy only woke up a few hours before me, though the two of us were out for around three weeks."

Both Toma and Ame looked at Hisui. "How are you feeling, Hisui?" Ame asked.

"I fine!" she said, smiling.

" _I'm_ ," I corrected. "I'm fine."

"I'm fine," Hisui repeated.

I smiled and played with her hair, before looking back up at her parents. "Don't worry, we've been keeping watch. We'll find out what happened."

They nodded.

"There's also another reason I'm here," I continued. "You see…when I was unconscious, I actually met with the person who gave me a second chance – the reason I know the future. And…well, I have some more information now."

Toma nodded. "What is it?"

I took a deep breath. "Do you know of a man named Zash Caine?"

He hummed thoughtfully. "Yes, I believe he's considered a bit of a rising star among the generals. He joined suddenly a few years ago, and I thought it was odd that he didn't start until his late thirties. Other than that, however, I'm not sure I know much."

I nodded. "Do not promote him too high, and _don't_ give him sensitive information. He eventually tries to overthrow you and becomes an enemy of the State. He tries to destroy Fiore, actually."

Toma's eyes widened. "Are you sure?"

"He steals the Dragon Cry," I said.

At that, Toma froze up.

"Speaking of which," I continued. "I'm gonna have to borrow that."


	68. The Dragon Cry

**More spoilers for Dragon Cry.**

* * *

 **Chapter Sixty Eight - The Dragon Cry**

Toma seemed to be a bit in shock.

"What's the Dragon Cry?" Ame asked.

"Dwagon?" Hisui asked.

"Give me a bit, Hisui," I told her, before turning to her mother. "The Dragon Cry is a staff that has collected anguish and magic from the souls of passed dragons. It also has the power to extract a dragon from a human body."

"A…a human body?" she whispered. "Why would a dragon be _in_ a human?"

"It's an ability that dragons have," I said. "And in a few years, we'll get some more dragon slayers who have dragons inside them as well."

"Why?" Ame asked.

"Dragon slayers, after using their magic for a specific amount of time, undergo a 'dragonification' process," I explained. "They turn into a dragon. These dragon slayers were all raised by dragons, and their dragons didn't want them to turn into dragons – so they decided to enter their bodies so that their bodies can adapt to their own magic, but also not overwhelm them and change them."

"And that's what you'll need the Dragon Cry for?" Toma asked, suddenly getting his voice back.

I nodded. "I need it for six people. But I won't need it until X784. Just make sure that, whatever happens, Zash doesn't find out."

He nodded, still looking a bit pale. "Understood. Using the Dragon Cry for destruction would be catastrophic."

* * *

November passed at a nice rate…but the first of December we got a surprise.

Not a good one.

Well…I _would_ count it as a good one if we could find Porlyusica.

But we couldn't.

And for some reason _I was put in charge_.

"Why are you all looking at me?!" I shrieked.

"You're the only other one with healing powers!" Rex shouted, shaking me.

"Stop shaking me, dammit!" I shouted.

He stopped and let go of me, and I took a deep breath. "No one can contact Porlyusica?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"She's not at her house, I've already gone and checked," Laxus said.

"Fuck," I muttered.

Once, again, I WAS NOT MENTALLY PREPARED FOR THIS.

I turned and pushed open the door to the infirmary.

"Maggie, you're going to have to breathe," I told her. "And push."

She glared at me. "I know that."

Yeah, well I didn't know much more about giving birth than that. "I don't exactly _want_ to help someone give birth when I'm _twelve_."

Besides, God said that I'm closer to my physical age…

"Dammit Elle, do something!" Maggie yelled, obviously having another contraction.

"I don't know what to do!" I screamed, but even as I said that, my body was moving on its own accord.

Before I even had time to blink, my hand was on her head, and I had whispered, " _Haumea's Blessing_."

Maggie began to glow, before sagging a bit in relief. My mind continued.

" _Haumea's Deliverance_."

And then, just once, Maggie pushed.

And a baby popped out.

I stared at it. It stared back, obviously surprised it had come out so quickly.

See, even the _baby_ knows that's not supposed to happen.

And then it burst into tears.

"WHAT the absolute FUCK?!" I shrieked.

You know, I wonder what would happen if the first words you heard after being born was 'what the absolute fuck'.

Well, I'm sure we'll find out soon enough.

"Don't scare my baby!" Maggie yelled.

"You're not pregnant anymore, stop being so moody!" I yelled back at her.

The door burst open, and Rex stood in the doorway. Behind him, the other adults peered over his shoulder.

"What happened?" he asked.

"HOW THE FUCK SHOULD I KNOW?" I shrieked.

"Elle did magic and the baby popped out," Maggie said, starting to shift so she could pick up her child.

"Congrats, you guys are parents, I need to look shit up."

And then I teleported home.

* * *

 _Seriously, what the fuck?_

I stared down at the book in my hand. A new section had appeared in my book on Planetary Magic, and the whole book was rearranged. I drifted back to my conversation with God; she said that I had a few surprises, but I thought that seeing Dragon Cry was the gift. This was something else altogether.

Still though; no one else could have messed with my magic like this.

Taking the book with me, I teleported back to the guild.

"Elle?" Makarov asked.

"How many planets are there?" I asked.

"Where is this coming from?" he asked.

"PLEASE JUST ANSWER THE QUESTION!" I said very very loudly, my voice cracking a bit.

He stared at me with surprise. "Eight. There are eight planets."

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked. "All along, I've been using Pluto. Like it was nothing."

"I didn't realize that you didn't know," Makarov said. "And besides, you don't use Pluto that often."

It's true. Even now that I can use each planet, I still preferred Earth and Venus – though I tended to use Jupiter and Saturn often, as well.

I sagged into a chair.

"What's wrong, Elle?" Laxus asked.

What's wrong? God decided to give me a gift, and it's screwing with me.

"Did you know there are dwarf planets?" I asked him.

Laxus nodded. "Yeah, Pluto is one, right? Have you started learning the other planets? What do they do?"

I blinked at him. "You know that I could use the dwarf planets?"

He shrugged. "I figured, when you started with Pluto. I'm kinda excited to learn about the dwarf planets, though."

"Why?" I asked.

"Well…" he said slowly. "Those planets are kinda considered the Lost Planets. I mean, no one even knows what they do. That information has been lost."

I laid my head down in my arms, groaning. "Haumea practically turns me into a midwife. I can't believe I have an entire PLANET for childbirth."

Laxus started laughing, and took a few minutes to get his laughter under control so he could breathe again. "What...about...the others?" he wheezed out.

I sighed. "I'm not exactly sure."

They had been in the book the next time I had looked at it. God had obviously wanted this to be a surprise, so I had got Haumea when I needed it, but it looked like I could still learn the others.

Though there was a warning against using the dwarf planets too much, and I couldn't help but wonder what that meant. It said that in the beginning, when learning the element, one doesn't really feel the effects, but over time, it would eventually start having repercussions.

But dwarf planets existing explained a few things. Pluto had always had less spells than the others, and I had never understood why. In addition to that, Pluto had always felt different to use. I thought it was because using Shadow Magic was difficult, but it seems like it's a side effect of using Dwarf Planets, which were more difficult to use.

Except Haumea, because you know, SURPRISE.

I wish I could trade it in. While childbirth is…handy in situations like this, I'd rather exert a bit more power for these sole occasions (the guild is definitely going to make me do more, especially since Romeo will arrive in a few years) and use a different element more often.

Other than Pluto or Haumea, there were three more dwarf planets.

Ceres had to do with perfume and poison magic, as long as it was natural. At least it would come in handy for Erik.

Eris had to do with chaos magic, and seemed to have some spots in illusions and lowering inhibitions.

Makemake is yet _another_ planet that is devoted to sex, though it has more to do with fertility.

I wonder if I can use it on a weapon.

I mean, if I was to set a Vulcan on someone…

At least Ceres and Eris could come in handy. And Pluto.

But I couldn't help but wonder about the ominous warning in the book. It didn't really go into any sort of details.

Still... It kept me up at night. A shiver ran through my mind just thinking that I might find out what could happen firsthand.

And considering that this is Fairy Tail, I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up feeling the effects sooner rather than later.

* * *

 **There won't be anything else spoiling Dragon Cry for awhile.**

 **This (the new planets) was inspired by TheBleedingDragon on Quotev who Benton's some things in the comments. As for the question, yes, the training will happen with Ceres. Maybe Ichiya will be thrown in for good measure.**

 **Baby will be explained soon.**

 **And I wonder if you'll be able to guess the consequences for using Dwarf Planets too often? It differs from planet to planet.**


	69. The 'Talk'

**I PROMISE YOU THE CHAPTER NUMBER IS A COINCIDENCE.**

* * *

 **Chapter Sixty Nine - The 'Talk'**

"Alright, if you're ten or older, come to this half of the room." I stuck out my hand, pointing to the side, and the kids divvied up.

It was a few days after the baby was…(I don't even know if I can keep using this word)…born, and it was time to do something I didn't want to do.

But I had realized that there were more than a few problems that happened last time around, and while this didn't help avoid all of them, it would help most of them.

"What's going on?" Cana asked, curious. "I wanna join!"

I snorted. "Okay, sure. How about _no?_ You can learn a year."

I turned back to everyone who lined up beside the wall in the training room.

Erigor, Laxus, Bickslow, Freed, Evergreen, Wally, Nab, Erza, Jellal, Simon, Ultear and Lyon.

I looked at the first two. "Get out. And take the younger kids with you."

"What?" Laxus asked. "Why?"

I stared at him. "Do you want to hear me give you the Talk?"

His face turned darker than Erza's hair, and the kids stared at him. Erigor was cracking up on the ground.

"What's that?" Erza asked.

Laxus turned to look at them. "RUN! RUN IF YOU WANT TO LIVE!"

I punched him. "Don't listen to him, he's exaggerating. And trust me, it's better if _I_ do it compared to say...Master, Gildarts or Silver. Or, even Macao, Wakaba or Rex."

Laxus's red face drained of color, and he turned completely white. "Don't even joke about things like that!"

Erigor, still laughing, threw one of Laxus's arms around his shoulders and started dragging him out. "Come on, kids, you get to wait another year, at least."

Everyone else followed them out of the room, leaving only Bickslow, Freed, Evergreen, Wally, Nab, Erza, Jellal, Simon, Ultear, and Lyon.

I bit my lip. "Wait right here, guys."

I left the room and walked to the adults, who were drinking at the bar.

"Ur, I'm giving all of the kids ten or older the talk, do you want to do Ultear and Lyon?"

Gildarts, Macao, Wakaba, Silver and Makarov all spat out their beer, and Enno was giggling at them.

Rex had paled, and Maggie was laughing before she returned to breast feeding her baby - which was apparently a girl.

Something they learned because Porlyusica ended up arriving _right after I left_.

Thank you, Mashima. Dick. You could have made her timing a bit better.

Ur thought for a moment. "How do you know the Talk?"

I sighed. "I was nineteen when I died in my past life."

Gildarts spit out his drink again, having finally recovered enough to take another sip. "Wait, you died?"

I sighed, and turned to Ur. "Well?"

Ur shrugged. "Sure. I'll probably do it again, later, just in case." She looked behind her, "If it's kids ten or older, then Nab is in that room. Enno, do you want to give it to Nab?"

She stopped laughing and went pale. "No way!" she squeaked.

I nodded. "See? Tell me, did any of you guys even think about having to tell this to the kids? Especially the kids that aren't your own?"

The look on their faces told it all.

"Well, that explains a lot of the previous timeline," I muttered. "Just thought I'd ask you guys if you wanted to."

"Are you going to do Cana and Gray next year?" Gildarts blurted.

I nodded.

Both he and Silver exchanged looks and deflated, relieved.

I rolled my eyes and walked back into the room, closing the door behind me.

"Sit down," I told the kids, who all exchanged glances and did as they were told.

"What do you know about how babies are born?" I asked the kids.

They exchanged looks before Wally suggested, "Elle does magic and the baby pops out?"

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. "Okay, no. That's _not_ how it works."

"But that's what happened the other day!" he said.

I groaned. This was going to be worse than I thought.

 **ONE HOUR LATER**

"Hey, are you guys okay?" Cana asked as they left the room.

Gray looked at his siblings. "Will you tell me what it was about? I wanna know!"

Both of them paled.

Jellal and Erza were bright red and avoiding each other's gaze, Nab looked like he was thinking so hard he was going to hurt himself, Ultear and Lyon were grayer than Gray, and Evergreen and Bickslow didn't look much better.

"Are you okay, Bickslow?" Sho asked, standing closet to the mage. "You're really pale. Even your Seith Symbol is getting lighter..."

Erigor was laughing at their reactions. "Oh My God. This is amazing. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!"

"Freed-san, you seem just fine," Juvia said to him.

"Hmm?" he asked, looking down at her. "Oh, yes, Juvia-san. What I learned does not surprise me, but it has...made...shipping...different."

With each word, he started turning redder.

"I don't get it. What are we missing?" Gray complained.

"You don't want to know, Gray. Trust me," Lyon said, right as he stripped.

His face turned extremely red as he scrambled for his clothes, and Erza, Evergreen and Ultear all screamed and threw their hands over their eyes.

"What is it?" Gray asked, his shirt already missing. "You guys see us strip all of the time."

"PUT YOUR CLOTHES ON!" The three girls screamed.

Juvia nodded. "Ultear-san, Erza-san and Evergreen-san finally understand Juvia!"

All of the girls looked at her in horror.

"Relax, guys, Juvia won't get the talk for another two years," I said, waving it off. I had settled on a seat by the bar, leaning back and watching the chaos.

"Alright kids, who wants some snacks!" Enno said happily, exiting the kitchen with a tray in her hands.

On it was slices of cucumbers.

Most of the kids in the room screamed, and Erza even passed out.

"Erza!" Jellal cried.

I looked at Enno. "Jeez, and they call _me_ evil."


	70. Tuning Timelines

**Chapter Seventy - Tuning Timelines**

So, apparently, most of the male adults were confused on why the kids freaked out to Enno's snacks. Even Ur was a bit confused, so I explained to them that I had asked Enno to pick up some condoms for me so I could have the kids try to put them on cucumbers.

To be fair, the Talk probably wouldn't have been as bad if they weren't in a room with some other kids their age (especially considering that some of them have crushes).

But that's what happened to me at the Orphanage, so they can get over it.

* * *

A few days after I gave the Talk, Makarov led everyone over to the timeline chart. And by everyone, I mean everyone except for Enno, Maggie, Rex, and Max.

Maggie and Rex were napping on the beds in the infirmary, and Enno was carrying around their baby - a pretty little girl with a shock full of Rex's indigo hair that was named Maxine - because Maggie and Rex wanted to combine their names (I mean they haven't admitted it, but they totally wanted to). We've taken to calling the baby Maxie, rather than Max...which was good, because Max Alors (you know, the sand mage I visit every once in a while who is training with Laki) will eventually come join Fairy Tail.

I sighed as I looked up at the timeline.

It was starting to get pretty big.

"What's that?" Millianna asked, coming up beside me and looking up.

I pet her. "This is a chart that measures how powerful we were in the last timeline, and how powerful we are this time around."

"Elle, if you would do the honors?" Makarov asked.

I nodded, and walked over to the timeline chart on the left.

I pulled out six pins. "The Wizard Saint column," I said, gesturing to the top. "Last time around, at the end of the timeline, more than a few of our members were that powerful. This includes our Master," I gave him a slight bow, "Laxus," and continued around the circle, "Brandish, Ur, and Gildarts. Silver as well. Now, we can add another."

I stuck Jellal's pin in the top row. "Congrats, Jellal. You've got quite a lot of work ahead of you."

He nodded determinedly. "I'll do it!"

God, he's so adorable!

Honestly, I'm surprised I've managed to keep all of my squealing to a minimum.

"Moving down," I continued. "In our SS Column, we had Cana on the higher part, and Gray on the lower part. Erza, you will be joining Cana in these ranks, a bit above her, but still in the SS Category."

I put Erza's pin down next to Cana.

"Are we that high?" Sho asked.

"I'm not entirely sure," I said. "I didn't see you guys fight entirely, so I can't be positive, which means I'll be ranking you on a lower level. Simon, Millianna, you're in B Class." I put Millianna on the middle row, and Simon underneath her.

"Sho, Wally, you guys are mid C Class." I turned to look at them, who both seemed a bit downtrodden. "Hey, cheer up. It should be easy to surpass your other selves, right?"

They both smiled at that.

"Now, it's time to move up this years' results!" I said cheerfully.

First, I put the newbies on the board, followed by Jet and Droy (Kagura and Yukino would not be joining the board until they start learning magic).

By the time it was finished, everyone had moved up a bit.

The first two columns remained the same – in the Wizards Saints column, Makarov, and lower in that category, Ur and Gildarts. The SS category was still empty.

In the S Class column, Lucy had moved up to the center, and Laxus and I were both placed on the lower part of the S Class spectrum.

That couldn't be right. Could it? I mean, after all, I've got Magical Overload. I don't exactly have perfect control over my powers.

In the high A column, was Cana and Brandish. Macao, Wakaba and Erigor were right on their tail, and lower A Class had Ultear, Silver and Juvia.

In high B, we had Gray, Levy, Freed, Jellal and Enno. Lyon, Evergreen and Bickslow were in middle B, and low B held Erza and Nab.

High C held Reedus, and low C had Jet and Droy.

In high D, there was Simon, and Sho was mid D. Wally and Millianna were low D.

Nab, Reedus, Levy and Lucy all had their pins exchanged for silver, which means that they met their power level in the previous timeline. Macao and Wakaba got theirs turned gold for rising above their powers on the previous timeline.

Lucy was a bit difficult, but since she still hasn't had a lot of experience, it wasn't gold yet.

But the thought that _Levy_ (little tiny, eight year old Levy) was on the same level as she had been nine years later, _really_ threw me off. However, thinking back, I have to agree. While she probably isn't as strong _power-wise,_ her new types of attacks make her a more adept wizard.

Because of the amount that Nab struggled with his power, I think it's surprising he's gotten this far, but I think that was just because I was comparing most of his power development with everyone else's.

"What?" Lyon cried. "How is Gray more powerful than me?"

It was true. Gray, Cana, Levy, Juvia…more than a few people were excelling at a better rate than others, and I couldn't figure out why.

And then it hit me.

"Of course," I muttered. Laxus gave me a look, but I ignored it.

They had all visited the Celestial World. Even if it was only for a little bit, they had still gone there…some even twice.

Does that mean that some of their magic from the previous timeline was left over as well, even though they weren't Stellar wizards?

* * *

The next day was time for an announcement…one I probably should have seen coming.

"It's time to announce this year's candidates for the S Class trials!" Makarov announced.

"Laxus!"

I smiled at him.

"Elle!"

What? But I wasn't ready.

But before I could protest, Makarov kept going. "Macao! Wakaba! Erigor! And Silver! Choose another candidate for a partner, and you have a week to prepare, with one day off for Erigor's birthday."

More cheers.

"Ready for this?" Laxus asked, coming up behind me.

"Hell no," I muttered.

"Might as well try, right?" he smiled at me.

I smiled back. "Alright. Ready to become S Class early this time around?"

He smirked. "How about you? Ready to become S Class at the youngest possible age?"

That's right, you had to be twelve.

I smirked back at him. "Why the hell not?"


	71. And Happy New Year

**Chapter Seventy One - And a Happy New Year**

So, Laxus and I did not make S Class.

Neither did anyone else.

If you hadn't already guessed, Macao and Wakaba teamed up, which left Silver and Erigor together. Though they did a pretty good job.

Still, we all lost miserably, and we barely recovered from our…soreness…in time for Christmas.

It was probably Ur and Gildarts's fault. I'm told that they decided to start sparring while waiting for the teams to arrive, and if it wasn't for them, I'm sure that Laxus and I actually would've had a chance.

But I honestly don't even remember half of what happened in that forest, probably because I blacked out at some point.

The last thing I remember is telling Laxus that we would be able to do this, because we helped take down Deliora and the Tower, and then I was waking up in the infirmary...again.

Laxus told me he had to carry me for the last bit, and once again commented on the fact that I was getting heavier to carry.

I told him that that's what _happened_ over time, and if he was too weak to carry me, he should work out more.

Surprisingly enough, he actually started doing that. In addition to his normal training, he would lift weights every day, and he started doing push-ups with Yukino on his back.

I switched her out for Millianna, the second smallest member of the guild. Yukino is too light.

Silver had luckily woken up in time for his birthday, and then Christmas had arrived.

On Christmas Eve, we all grouped around a tree and passed around our presents. Lucy, unfortunately, wasn't able to open another gate. Being unconscious had slowed down her progress, and Corvus told her that things were going to get worse before they got better.

* * *

On Christmas Day, I dropped by Mercurius, at the Royal Family's insistence.

"Ellie-nee!" Hisui ran up to me, and I swung her up in my arms. She was smaller by Yukino (even though she was only younger by a few months) which meant that I had no trouble carrying her. After all, I spent a lot of the time carrying Yukino around.

"Hey, Hisui," I said, smiling down at her. "Merry Christmas!"

"Mewwy Chwismas!" Hisui replied, smiling.

God, these kids are all so damn adorable!

Ame smiled at me as she and Toma entered the room. "Merry Christmas, Elle."

"I want Ellie-nee to hep open pwesents!" Hisui said, clutching me.

Toma chuckled, and they lead the way to the tree, where I helped Hisui open all of her presents. She spent most of her time playing with the wrapping paper and ripping it into smaller pieces.

We spent time sitting on the floor, talking and playing games that I introduced from my previous life.

This, of course, would lead to the invention of board games (courtesy of Ame) but that's a story for another time.

* * *

As I was leaving, Toma took me aside and gave me my own present, in a box that was wrapped.

"What's this?" I asked him.

"A present," he said. "As well as something else…" he hesitated. "If Zash Caine was able to steal it, that means it wasn't protected well enough. However, I doubt anyone would ever think to look in that requip space of yours. After all, it's not as if they can easily access it."

I blinked at him in surprise. It was true; requip was special that way. It was another dimension, my own storage unit to which only I had the key.

But the amount of trust with this… "Thank you," I said quietly, taking it and requipping it. "This gesture means more to me than you will ever know."

There are some things that, try as we might, can't be conveyed in words.

We ended up celebrating Jude's birthday a few days later, despite his protests about how he wasn't a member of the guild.

"Nonsense, you practically are!" Makarov shouted, spinning around with a mug in the air. "Plus, it gives us another excuse to PARTY!"

I think it was the latter sentence that told Jude that it would be useless trying to change their minds.

* * *

The new year passed, and X776 began.

The first thing I did was make sure that the birthday board was up to date. I had added all of the new members as well.

 _January 3_ _rd_ _– Jellal (10)_

 _January 19_ _th_ _– Reedus (18)_

 _January 26_ _th_ _– Ur (28)_

 _February 2_ _nd_ _– Brandish (8)_

 _February 5_ _th_ _– Yukino (2)_

 _February 28_ _th_ _– Laki (9)_

 _March 1_ _st_ _– Makarov (79)_

 _March 8_ _th_ _– Gray (9)_

 _March 17_ _th_ _– Max (8)_

 _April 7_ _th_ _– Gildarts (36)_

 _April 14_ _th_ _– Millianna (7)_

 _April 26_ _th_ _– Juvia (8)_

 _May 1_ _st_ _– Elle (12)_

 _May 14_ _th_ _– Ultear (10)_

 _June 1_ _st_ _– Lucy (8)_

 _June 16_ _th_ _– Jet (9)_

 _June 24_ _th_ _– Nab (11)_

 _July 9_ _th_ _– Levy (8)_

 _July 12_ _th_ _– Cana (9)_

 _July 22_ _nd_ _– Sho (8)_

 _August 7_ _th_ _– Erza (10)_

 _August 12_ _th_ _– Layla (28)_

 _August 24_ _th_ _– Evergreen (11)_

 _August 31_ _st_ _– Enno (22)_

 _September 8_ _th_ _– Macao (28)_

 _September 14_ _th_ _– Simon (10)_

 _September 25_ _th_ _– Droy (9)_

 _September 30_ _st_ _– Freed (11)_

 _October 6_ _th_ _– Wally (11)_

 _October 16_ _th_ _– Lyon (10)_

 _October 23_ _rd_ _– Bickslow (12)_

 _November 9_ _th_ _– Kagura (7)_

 _November 16_ _th_ _– Porlyusica (70)_

 _November 18_ _th_ _– Wakaba (28)_

 _November 23_ _rd_ _– Laxus (15)_

 _December 16_ _th_ _– Erigor (18)_

 _December 22_ _nd_ _– Silver (29)_

 _December 29_ _th_ _– Jude (30)_

Jeez. We were getting a lot of names now.

By the time everyone gets here, we'll be celebrating someone's birthday every other day.

That was when we all decided to only do presents on Christmas, rather than birthdays, unless it was someone especially close to you.

Of course, 'especially close to you' fit most of the guild, for me, so I'd still be busy with presents.

But overall, this would be easier on everyone, and we decided to just throw a party on people's birthdays.

Which is why, only a few days after I made the list, we threw Jellal an eleventh birthday party.

Though I was a bit distracted; I had a dark guild to find.

* * *

 **Not really happy with this chapter. Sorry. And I know it's not what you expected. Next S Class Trials will be described. Next chapter should be up late Thursday.**


	72. Zoldeo

**Chapter Seventy Two - Zoldeo**

The beginning of X776 started out pretty slow. I spent time looking for the Oracion Seis as more and more birthdays passed. Jellal was eleven now, and Reedus was nineteen while Ur was twenty nine.

Brandish's ninth birthday passed, and a few days later, Yukino turned three.

While I made some time for each of the birthday kids, I was, as I said, spending time trying to find the Oracion Seis. My locating magic was blocked, once again (fucking Brain), and Cana's cards did nothing to help.

I did, however, manage to locate a member of another dark guild.

* * *

"Laxus, I need your help," I said to him.

"Do you need our help, too?" Jellal asked, immediately volunteering.

I shook my head, messing with his hair. Luckily, despite my small size, I was still a few inches taller than him. "Nah, Laxus is the only one who qualifies. Well…" I turned to look at a spirit. "Loke, you going to be helpful, or not?"

"Depends," he said. "What are we doing?"

"Zoldeo," I said.

His eyes darkened, and his fists tightened. "Let me get Corvus. Take my key with you, we'll meet you there."

And then he faded back to the Celestial Spirit Realm.

Laxus's eyes were wide. "This is serious enough that they'll get along?"

I nodded.

He nodded back. "Let's get going, then."

"Good luck," Erza said.

"Thanks," I replied.

We were probably going to need it.

* * *

I totally fucking called it.

I knew we were going to need that luck, and we did.

We started out well enough.

….Okay. That's a lie.

Everything went horrible right from the start.

I'm not quite sure _how_ Zoldeo recognized me by _sight,_ but he immediately started fighting.

Capricorn hasn't returned to the Celestial World in several years (he couldn't, being fused with Zoldeo), so he couldn't have learned things that way (at least I think that's how the previous timeline knowledge carried over).

Though, with how my luck has been, it's probably been Brain. He's been a constant pain in the ass, and dark guilds _do_ have an alliance…so it's not surprising that he might've warned them about me, at the very least.

Piece of shit.

"Get down!" I yelled, tackling Laxus.

"Is that a _goat_?" Laxus asked.

"No," Corvus said, appearing next to me from the shadows. Loke came out on his own. "He's a Celestial Spirit that's been possessed by a human."

Zoldeo cursed, spitting out words I couldn't understand, and swiped down his arms in our direction, before pointing to Corvus and Loke. Before I could stop myself, I had punched Loke in the face.

"Elle!" Corvus grabbed my arms, holding me back.

Loke was looking over at Zoldeo. "He's a hell of a lot stronger than last time around. He shouldn't be able to take as direct control of a human like that."

"Yeah, this is more like the doll shit that Kain had," I commented, my body trying to toss Corvus off of me.

Zoldeo was staring at Laxus. "Why aren't you affected?"

Before anyone could respond, my hands lit up of their own accord, and Venus's Sword grew out of my hand and speared Corvus through the stomach.

"Corvus!" I yelled, right as he disappeared back to the Spirit World.

Loke pushed me straight into Laxus's arms, which wrapped around my torso, pinning my hands down to my sides. "Will someone tell me what the fuck is going on!?" Laxus yelled.

My body was still moving of it's own accord, trying to get out. "Sorry," I said. "Ugh, I shouldn't have come."

"Hey, it wasn't your fault, Elle," Loke said. "It wasn't this bad, last time."

Loke lit up with magical power, and sped off after Zoldeo, who blanched and blocked his first physical attack.

"I don't understand!" Zoldeo yelled, as he was fighting Loke, though his eyes were trained on Laxus. "Why aren't you affected?"

Corvus finally appeared again, and he took over for Laxus (gee, I'm so helpful, aren't I?) and Laxus took off to get Zoldeo from behind.

"Why isn't my Human Enslavement Magic not working on you!?" Zoldeo yelled.

Laxus's eyes glowed, and something primal seemed to echo from his magic. "Because I'm not human."

With one last strike from each of them, Loke from the front and Laxus from the behind, Zoldeo was tossed out of Capricorn's body.

He fell to the ground and started screaming, his body shifting in and out. Capricorn started getting up, and my body relaxed, finally under my control again. Corvus got up, pulling me up with a hand.

Zoldeo gave one last look at Laxus before he disappeared, his last words crying out at Laxus. "You're right…you're not human! You're a monster!"

And then he disappeared.

 _Dammit._

I walked over to Laxus, and Capricorn (the only one of the three spirits with a brain) dragged the other two farther away.

"Don't listen to him," I said, standing next to him.

"What?" he asked, looking at me. I couldn't read the look on his face.

I rolled my eyes. "I know what you're thinking, you idiot. And don't listen. So, you're not entirely physically human, so what? That's a dragon slayer thing. But you're human where it counts."

He looked away.

"Laxus, you're a good person. You're human to me, and human to Fairy Tail, and that's what matters."

Without looking back, he reached his arm out and pulled me to his chest, wrapping his arms around me and holding me tight.

I was surprised, but I wrapped my arms around him almost immediately.

I'm not going to turn down a Laxus hug.

And what happened earlier doesn't really count.

"Thank you, Elle," Laxus said. "You-"

" _I_ was the one who landed the winning blow!" Loke shouted, punching Corvus.

Corvus hmphed. "Please, that's only because I came to help back you up." He punched Loke in the stomach.

I could feel my forehead throbbing as I pulled out of Laxus's hug. "You _dicks_!" I kicked them both. "I'm _trying_ to have a touching moment with my best friend, you jerks, and you interrupted it!"

My words almost completely went over their heads, and I growled at them. "Go. Home!"

With one last glare, Corvus disappeared into the shadows, and Loke returned to the Spirit World.

"Lady Elle," Capricorn said. "I thought you should know that my key will already be on Lady Lucy's ring."

I nodded. "Yeah, I thought so. She knows the rules, it'll be fine."

Capricorn nodded, and disappeared, and all that was left was Laxus and I.

"Come on, let's go home," I told him, sighing and taking his arm before teleporting back to the guild.


	73. Cry Me A River

**Spoilers for Harry Potter. And yay, this ended up longer than I thought it'd be, so it's more in my normal chapter range. :)**

* * *

 **Chapter Seventy Three - Cry Me A River**

I was busy looking for the Oracion Seis, but Ame wanted those board games, so I recorded some of my memories of playing the games and gave them to the kids in the guild, telling them to go nuts and have fun.

Of course, Bickslow and Freed took it a few steps further by incorporating their prank runes into it.

I honestly didn't care, and Ame was pretty pleased with the results so….eh.

* * *

I started preparing for the festival thing that's supposed to happen in April…I really did.

And then I dropped it, because I caught a lead on Brain and the Oracion Seis.

I guess that would be put off for another year, huh?

So, I left a note, dropped Yukino off at Kagura's and Simon's, and staked out a building which…did not have Brain or the Oracion Seis.

But I still found what I had needed.

* * *

Laxus was bored.

Elle was gone. Again.

Fairy Tail wasn't the same with her – even though the guild was loud as hell. But whenever she was gone, it felt like there was a piece missing.

She's been gone a lot, lately.

He sighed as he looked around the guild.

"What's wrong?" asked Erigor, who floated next to him.

"Do you ever sit like a normal person?" Laxus asked.

"Nah, this is more fun!" Erigor said cheerfully. "Now, come on! What's wrong?"

Laxus was quiet.

"It's Elle, isn't it?" Erigor asked.

Laxus sighed. "Dammit, how do you _do_ that?"

Erigor snorted. "We all miss her, dumbass. But it's more than that, true. You're especially close with her."

Erigor looked back over to the kids. "Still, you're close to some of them. Cana, Levy. Freed and Bickslow. Ultear and Lyon. Juvia and Gray."

"Juvia and Gray are off -"

A scream ran through the guild, and everyone heard Gray's voice. "Juvia, I'm sorry, come back! I promise I'll keep my clothes on!"

Erigor laughed at that, so much so that he almost fell off of the scythe he was balancing on.

Laxus sighed. "If you didn't know the situation, that would've sounded _really_ wrong."

Erigor snorted. "At least they're _trying_ to be friends."

"Please, have you seen those two idiots blush?" Laxus scoffed. "They're almost as bad as Jellal and Erza."

"WHO TOUCHED MY CAKE!"

"Erza, get back here!"

"NO JELLAL, THEY TOUCHED MY CAKE, THEY WILL DIE!"

Lyon came running and ducked behind the bar, behind Laxus and Erigor.

"What did you _do_?" Laxus asked, peering down at them.

"It was an accident!" Lyon hissed. "Ultear told me she was getting me cake. I thought it was mine!"

"Erza, I will give you _two_ pieces of cake!" Jellal shouted, straining to hold Erza back.

Erza relaxed. "Okay."

Erigor, Laxus and Lyon sweatdropped.

"I see that Jellal has already figured out that _cake_ is the path to her heart," Laxus deadpanned.

"I think you're safe, Lyon," Erigor said, and Lyon sneaked away from the bar – though he didn't return to his seat. Instead, he ended up crashing into Bickslow, who was trying to fly on his souls.

"Ha!" Cana shouted. "I told you! I don't care how good your balance is, you can't fly on those souls!"

"Watch me!" Bickslow yelled, climbing back on and flying a good three feet before he crashed into a table.

"Do you think Elle would be upset about this?" Erigor asked.

"Nahh," Laxus muttered. "She'd probably encourage it. She'd just make them move to a safer place or something."

"Should we do that?" Erigor asked.

They watched as Bickslow flew by again, crashing into a pole this time. "Ouch!"

"Nahhhh," they both said in unison.

"WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT USING MAGIC IN THE GUILD HALL?" Makarov roared.

Bickslow looked down, ashamed. "Only use it if you know what you're doing?"

"YES!"

This was a rule because of the way that some people used magic, like Erigor's floating or Enno's dancing. It would be fine for Bickslow to float on his souls – as long as he could actually _do_ it.

More than a few kids returned to the training room and Laxus sighed as he and Erigor returned to that room.

They weren't faring that well without Elle there.

Yukino spent most of her time alone, or with Lucy when she and Brandish visited – something that happened a lot more often, now that Corvus could sweep both of them back and forth through the shadows.

Wally seemed pretty depressed, and only Jellal, Erza, Sho, Simon or Millianna could cheer him up. Laxus thought it was a bit weird that Jellal and Erza were in charge their little group, but he suppose it wasn't _that_ weird. He and Elle were kinda in charge of everyone else, and Erigor was older than them.

Wait. Did that mean like he and Elle were like Erza and Jellal?

He shook his head, trying to lose the thought before he started blushing.

"WHAT THE FUCK, FREED?" Evergreen screeched, and Laxus sighed. This was something he should probably interfere with.

"I will not apologize!"

Laxus couldn't wait for Elle to come back.

* * *

I had disappeared the last few days of March, and I returned almost a month later, with nothing except for a few scales…but it was what I needed.

Of course, upon my return to the guild, I was dog piled…again.

"Guys!" I shouted, though it was muffled, and came out more like "gfysS!"

Luckily, they seemed to get the idea, and most got off…most. Juvia, Freed, and Yukino (who seems to have joined the group of children who are extremely attached to me) stayed on my lap, though they luckily let me sit up.

Lucy (and Brandish) were absent, so I had one less person hanging off of me, and Jet seems to have decided to hover near me, but not glomp me. Jellal seemed to be staying close, too.

"You're back," Laxus said.

"Yep," I replied.

"Do you have any news?" Wally asked.

"Sort of," I said, smiling. "I'm tracking them, but I'm going to need Cana's help."

Laxus crossed his arms. "Fine, but you're resting for a few days."

"What?" I cried. "But I'm so close!"

"Tomorrow is your birthday!" he shouted back at me.

My mouth dropped. Was it?

"Oh…" I said quietly.

"You missed Juvia's birthday," Juvia said sadly, curling up into me more.

My heart started breaking, and I scooped her up, cuddling around her. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart," I whispered, stroking her hair.

"You missed mine, too," Millianna said quietly. She was eight now, and Juvia was nine.

I pet Millianna, stroking her hair, and she curled up next to me.

I hadn't even realized. I remember celebrating Makarov's eightieth birthday and Gray's tenth, and I had dropped by Laki and Max to say 'hi' for their tenth and ninth birthdays, but then I was gone, and so busy searching that I didn't pay attention to them.

Laxus met my eyes, his arms still crossed. "So? You owe us. You've made them all sad, so you've got to stay for your birthday before you leave, alright?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I'll stay three days, and I'll spend one day with Juvia and one with Millianna. And Ultear, I'll try my best to come back for your birthday, too, though I don't think it will take me that long."

* * *

We spent the night the rest of the day huddled in the training room, watching all of the Harry Potter movies. It was pretty late by the time they were done, and most of the kids had fallen asleep early into the seventh one.

Mavis and Zeref (who seemed to have returned from their honeymoon period permanently while I was gone), and even the other adults joined us not too long after the first one started, so we gathered everyone and started over again. Also, because of suggestions, I went to the Konzern and grabbed Lucy, Brandish, and Layla so they could join us. Unfortunately, Jude was too busy.

Sometimes I forget that he runs all of the countries' railroads.

While we watched the movies, we laid on top of each other (after we had covered the ground in fluff), and Loke, Corvus and Phoenix all came out to join us, though I had to put Lucy in between Loke and Corvus so they wouldn't fight.

That didn't really work either, because Lucy wanted to sit on me, with Juvia, Freed and Yukino, with Millianna by my side so I could pet her.

I mostly let people choose where they wanted to sit, and made Laxus sit next to me, because it looked like he was starting to get jealous of the tiny children that were hogging my attention.

All in all, it was pretty good, though there was a lot of crying involved.

While I myself seem to be crying a lot in this lifetime, I still couldn't compare to the guild's resident crybaby – Zeref.

Zeref and Mavis spent most of the end of the fourth movie _onward_ completely in tears, and they had cried a few times about Harry's home situation in the previous three movies (which counts just about anything with Sirius, which means they spent around half of the third movie in tears, too).

Of course, it also made the children with their parents there (Lucy, Cana, Gray and Ultear) spend a lot of time seeking for comfort. And if they didn't have parents there, they tended to go for the next closest relative (like Simon and Kagura, or Enno and Nab) _or_ someone they considered really close.

So, of course, this meant that Jellal and Erza were spending time together (with Sho and Millianna hanging onto Erza), as were Gray and Juvia, and _Cana and Lyon_ , (that was weird) as well as me and Laxus.

And all of the other kids (seeing as most of Fairy Tail was full of orphans) turned to me, which meant I spent more of my time comforting the tiny crying children than being comforted myself.

Still, despite the chaos, it was a good day, and it was certainly enjoyable.

Yukino got to spend the time snuggling with me, Layla, Lucy (who she's started calling Lucy-nee, like Hisui did) and Ophiuchus.

Honestly, the most annoying part was the end where Harry uses the Resurrection Stone and summons his parents, Sirius and Remus, because all of the adults were sobbing like babies. The only reason they didn't wake up the kids was because I asked Freed to put down a rune down when I noticed them getting sleepy that would keep them out.

Gildarts was sobbing his heart out, practically suffocating Cana, and Macao and Enno were hugging each other. Wakaba was crying pretty heavily too, sniffling, and Makarov was crying big crocodile tears. Silver was crying especially loudly, and was hugging Ur, who had a few tiny tears running down her cheeks (she was by far the most composed adult).

Reedus had burst into anime rivers, and Erigor was sniffling and whining muttering sadly about the ending. Even Laxus seemed to be crying a bit.

But Mavis and Zeref, who were sitting down with us rather than the adults in the back (which isn't that surprising, considering that they're technically in our age group) had their arms wrapped around each other and were sobbing their eyes out. Large, inconsolable sobs were the only noise you could distinguish from them, but every once in a while, you could hear phrases of something, like "it's sooooo saaaaaad!' and 'pooooooooor Harrrrrrrrrry'.

Eventually, everyone's tears had dried and the movie had ended.

Most of the kids were still asleep, so I spent time teleporting them back and forth. I took Simon, Kagura, Erza and Sho all back to Fairy Fields with one trip, though Kagura and Sho were both asleep, even though Kagura actually lasted pretty far into the last movie.

When I returned, I noticed Gray comforting Juvia, who was still crying. Luckily, it hadn't started raining. After the first few weeks, it hadn't started raining again when Juvia was sad.

Juvia wiped away her tears and smiled at him. "Thank you, Gray-san -ack! Your clothes!"

Well, they were getting there.

After multiple jumping back and forth, all of the kids were in their dorms (though more than a few of them made me tuck them in) and Lucy, Layla and Brandish were at the Konzern.

The adults were saying goodbye, and taking their awake children back home with them; Cana, Gray, Ultear, Lyon and Nab all staying awake throughout the movies. I gave Laxus one last hug, during which he gave me an odd look, where I rolled my eyes and said, "Come on, I know you were sad. And it's not exactly easy to hug your grandfather."

He smiled back at me and checked the time. "Happy Birthday, Elle. I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," I returned. I picked up Yukino (who had long since fallen asleep) and went back to our little home in the woods, where I switched out her clothes and got her ready for bed, before laying her down in the bed next to me.

She might have turned three not too long before I left, but she was still small, and I felt better with her in the same room.


	74. Revelations

**Next chapter should be up tomorrow.**

* * *

 **Chapter Seventy Four - Revelations**

The next morning, I awoke with shaking.

Once again.

This seems to be a common occurrence on my birthday.

"Ellie-nee. Up," Yukino said, shaking my shoulder.

I yawned, sitting up slowly. "Good morning, Yukino. What is it?"

She frowned. "Lushi-nee say to pwetty up."

Yukino was three years old, and she had originally been a bit behind when it came to certain vocabulary, probably because of where she grew up. Levy and Freed were working on catching her up, but she still preferred to be rather quiet (compared to say, Hisui, who is younger but also extremely vocal).

I frowned; even if she herself didn't wake me up, Lucy still wanted me to dress up for my birthday. "Lucy told you that I should be pretty?"

Yukino nodded.

"Did she tell you to wake me up and make sure I look nice?" I asked, rolling my eyes.

Yukino nodded eagerly.

I sighed.

"Alright, let's see what I can do," I said, walking over to the closet and pulling out some dresses. I held them up. "Which one should I wear?"

Yukino thought, thinking, before pointing at one. "Siver."

"Silver?" I asked, blinking, before I reached deeper into my closet and pulled out the one she had spotted. It was completely unfamiliar to me.

I read the tag on it.

 _Happy Birthday, Elle! - Love, Layla_

I sighed, shaking my head, but was unable to hide my smile.

It might seem odd - probably because of my age - but the way that Layla took care of me made me wonder if this was what 'being away from home' was like - still living on my own, but still having parents.

I turned to Yukino and ruffled her hair a bit. "You've got a good eye."

"Fank you," she said, hugging me from the side a bit.

I giggled. "Now, I need to get changed, or Lucy-nee will get mad at us, right?"

Yukino nodded, with all the seriousness a three-year-old could muster, and I smiled and started changing into the dress, which was a pretty silver color, but would shimmer a lighter version of the color of my eyes as the light hit it, and had a pretty tie around the waist that was a purple shade that matched my hair.

"How do I look?" I asked Yukino.

She smiled, lifting her arms up. "Pwetty!"

I pulled her up and carried her over to her side of the closet, the two of us browsing through it until I pulled out a mint green dress, which was one of Yukino's favorites. I put her back down and started switching out her pajamas.

"Alright, now it's time to do our hair," I told her, straightening up her dress.

"It's a good thing I'm here then!" Lucy shouted, bursting into the room happily. She pulled out her keys. " _Cancer_!"

"How would you like your hair today, ebi?" Cancer asked, appearing with a bell.

"No bangs, and you can have fun," I told him.

He pouted, but quickly sat me down and started snipping away.

I still do not understand how _cutting_ can make my hair _longer,_ but I know better than to question the powers of Celestial Spirits.

My hair ended up straight, for once, and he put in a silver headband that matched the color of my dress.

I smiled at myself in the mirror. Maybe I was imagining it, but I was starting to look a little older.

Maybe that'd mean my Magical Overload would finally go away.

Virgo had long since disguised my cuffs as bracelets, but even then…I hated the feel of them.

What I hated even more, though, was how I felt naked without them on.

"Yukino, do you want Cancer to play with your hair?" Lucy asked.

Yukino thought about it, but shook her head. I smiled and scooped her up, and Lucy said goodbye to Cancer. Yukino already had the same cut she would wear in the future, and I honestly thought it suited her more than long hair ever would.

"Alright, girls, lets head to the guild," I said, leading the way out of my house and into Magnolia.

* * *

Unsurprisingly, there was a stage.

I probably should have seen this coming, considering last year.

But all of the bands wanted to play.

And I was confused on how many bands there were.

First up was Cloudy Constellations.

No…not the ones you're thinking of. You see, when Lucy heard the name 'Cloudy Constellations', she told Erigor that she would fight him for the name.

He handed it over immediately.

So Lucy, Brandish and Cana all formed a band together, and would practice whenever they had finished taking a mission.

And that's what lead to the performance.

It was followed by Monsters in My Mind, which was the band that Erigor, Jellal, Freed, Bickslow and Laxus made, which was followed by Hailstorm, which was formed of Gray, Lyon, Ultear, and Juvia.

Nab, Jet, Droy and Wally made Between the Lines, and Levy, Kagura, Sho, Simon, Millianna and Erza formed Making Memories.

They would rotate their performances out.

Monsters in My Mind (Erigor, Jellal, Freed, Bickslow and Laxus) tended to do rock songs and certain alternatives. So generally, we heard everything from Queen to Panic! At the Disco from them.

Gray, Lyon, Ultear and Juvia tended to do some alternative that crossed over with Monsters in My Mind, but generally, Hailstorm performed some more soft-spoken alternative, like Onerepublic or Coldplay or Sleeping At Last.

Cloudy Constellations would play things by Of Monsters and Men or the Lumineers.

Between the Lines would end up doing songs from Bastille or Avicii.

Making Memories tended to do the most type of songs, probably because they rotated their singers the most, and they all liked singing different types of songs.

Apparently, Laxus had gotten ahold of my playlist, and played all of the songs, and everyone would listen to them while training. And if they heard one song they really liked, it would be 'theirs'.

Of course, it wasn't nearly that simple, because a lot of the time, everyone ended up fighting over the same songs.

So they generally thought it would be better to claim artists.

Though there was still plenty of battling over that.

I waited patiently, listening to everyone sing; each group did somewhere between three – five songs.

And, at the end, just like last time, everyone shuffled offstage, leaving only Laxus.

My heart warmed, thinking about how he was going to sing for me…again.

The only ones on stage other than Laxus was Freed, who began to play on the keyboard softly.

Laxus met my eyes, nervously, but he smiled and began to sing…I just couldn't believe he was singing _this_ song.

 _"You are the wind in my…sail_

 _You are the spring in my…step_

 _You make me laugh, you make me…cry_

 _And yoooou…make me forget.._."

Then the Chorus picked up, and Laxus seemed much more comfortable.

" _So tell me when you run; I wanna run with you,_

 _Tell me where you hide; I wanna come to you,_

 _Tell me where you go; I wanna go there, too._

 _Even if you fall, I will go down with you._

 _I will be the one who comes to rescue you._

 _Tell me where you go, 'cause I wanna be there too..."_

" _I hid my secrets in a…box._

 _I did exactly what you…said._

 _And now, I'm feeling so much better…_

 _'Cause you…make me forget…"_

And back to the chorus, and it was after this that really got me.

They changed the bridge.

They literally CHANGED THE WORDS TO THE BRIDGE.

 _"Bright as a bonfire…_

 _And you make me a fighter…_

 _And I'm brought out of the…darkness…_

 _Bright as a bonfire…_

 _And you make the world lighter…_

 _And you make me…breathless…"_

The world around me froze as I had a realization that hit me like a ton of bricks. I barely even heard the last verse…

 _"So tell me when you run; I wanna run with you_

 _Tell me where you hide; I wanna come to you_

 _Tell me where you go, 'cause I wanna go there, too…_

 _Oh, even if you fall, I will go down with you_

 _I will be the one who comes to rescue you_

 _Tell me where you go, 'cause I wanna be there, too…_ "

I was in love with Laxus Dreyar.


	75. Cubellios

**For those of you who wanted to know, the song is called 'Run' and is by Jasmine Thompson. Unfortunately, I changed the words, and it's sung by a girl, so if any of y'all men who are reading this can sing and want to do a cover specific for this story and the new lyrics, I'd FUCKING LOVE THAT.**

 **Also you guys all seem to be forgetting that ELLE NEEDS TO LEAVE IN A FEW DAYS. She can get with Laxus when she gets back...**

* * *

 **Chapter Seventy Five - Cubellios**

Bickslow's life had changed for the better ever since two kids had waltzed into his life, and he loved them all the more for it. The day they had saved him, he hailed as the best in his life, by far. He had a real family now, and he hadn't really known what that word meant before - with the exception of Papa.

He had cultivated his gift since he joined Fairy Tail, and had learned what it truly meant to read souls.

When he first arrived at Fairy Tail, someone - Levy, maybe - asked if he could see soul mates.

He had never answered the question.

He saw each person connected to a series of strings, and what was amazing about it was that they could form some of the strings on their own. But some strings are always there, even before they meet. Destiny at its finest.

For example, red strings. As far as he could tell, Bickslow had figured that the red string represented love, or soul mates, or significant others. Since the day he'd met her, Juvia always had two red strings trailing off into the distance, spreading who knows where. And when Gray and Lyon walked into the guild, both had brightened, enhancing ( _especially_ between her and Gray). Though they've dulled every time one of them strips and she shrieks and hides.

Some people only have one red string - like the one between Jellal and Erza.

Some people are both lucky, and unlucky, though you could say that it depends on what you _consider_ lucky. They have more than one red string; they have options. It's not set in stone - but that also means that it's a harder road. There are many strings coming from Lyon, and even more around Cana. There's even one connecting the two, and right now it's the strongest red for each of them.

But then there are people who are supposed to be red – like Gray and Juvia's were, but over time, it's shifted – it's still red, but it intertwined with a different color – yellow, right now. Saying that it's meant to be red in the end, but they're taking it slow for now, same as for Cana and Lyon's string.

Yellow was the most common color; the color of friendship. Walking into the guild with his Figure Eyes activated was like walking into the sun; blinding. Most people had extra colors - a yellow string entwined with another thing.

Blue tended to mean family, generally biologically, though some were changed. While Laxus and Makarov both have a deep blue string connecting to one another, they both have another one leading off somewhere, that's the same dark, grotesque blue, like festering oil. And then there's a lighter, sky blue color that some people have; which as far as Bickslow knows means that they don't know they're related.

And if the members of the guilds who were connected still didn't know by the end of the year, he'd tell Elle, but that's something for another time.

Purple tended to be best friends, though unless it wasn't entirely platonic it tended to be wound with another sort of color, like how Gray, Lyon and Ultear have the familial blue mixed in - though it's not solid because they aren't genetically related.

Pink tended to be a type of appreciation mixed with respect and love. Prime examples being Juvia, Lucy, Yukino, Jet, Jellal and Freed when it comes to Elle, though most of them all seemed to be mixed with blue; except Freed. Freed's is just pure pink.

What worried him was when some were _missing_ their red string. It doesn't mean that their soul mate is dead - because one of Gildarts's two strings is clipped, and trails behind him as he walks.

But Lucy and Levy don't have red strings, and neither does Yukino... But, as before, that's a problem for a different time.

Because as Bickslow watched on Elle's twelfth birthday, things seemed to slide into place, and he felt like he was watching Fate at work.

* * *

Fuck.

The whole world seemed to slow down, and time seemed to freeze.

It was my thirteenth birthday party, my best friend was singing for me _and I was in love with Laxus Dreyar_.

Fuck.

* * *

I think I'm in love with Laxus Dreyar, and I don't know what to do.

I'm not sure if I actually _am_ in love with him. God knows if I've ever even felt love…and it might be sad, but it's still true. At least I'm learning.

But I look at this idiot, at the stage he's on, smiling and breathless after singing a song for me, and the world is incredibly beautiful.

Laxus was a close friend, that's for sure. All the times we've simply camped together, or been together had something a little extra to them, and I don't think I noticed until now because I'd never had them before.

Maybe it's the extra sense of danger in our lives. Maybe it's me finally meeting someone who really, completely and utterly, cares for me. Maybe it's the magic causing this.

Maybe it's Maybelline.

And _maybe_ I'm going slightly crazy because I'm overthinking this.

I've always overthought relationships, because I never had one, but what I have with Laxus now…now that I really _do_ stop think about it, it actually seems kind of simple once I slow down and breathe.

 **He makes me feel safe, and happy, and that's all that matters.**

* * *

In that moment, Bickslow watched as things changed. Elle's line with Laxus, which was often entwined between red and purple, shimmered and solidified into a solid, pure red, and he smiled.

* * *

 **The world sped up again, and I was fine with that.**

* * *

Later, he could only sigh as everyone reinforced what he already knew.

Bickslow was surrounded by idiots.

And really, all of them should leave the guild and go to sleep by now.

"You guys are stupid," Gray commented.

"Are you saying you _don't_ think they'd be a good couple, Gray-san?" Freed asked dangerously, eyes narrowing.

"No!" Gray replied. "I just think you're pushing them too fast! They're only a few years older than us."

"I'm older than they are and I don't have a problem with it," Erigor commented.

"That's because you're having fun trying to get them together!"

"I don't really think we have to do anything," Nab muttered. "They'll just get together on their own, soon enough..."

"You're probably right," Jet muttered.

They were ignored.

"I agree with Gray," Lyon stated. "Drugging Laxus on her birthday was too far."

"Wait, you did _what_?" Jellal asked, looking up, suddenly more alert.

"We didn't _drug_ him," Erigor said. "Jeez, we just helped with his nerves. He was a bit scared to sing the song."

"Of course he was! It's basically a declaration of love!" Gray yelled.

"While I wouldn't go _that_ far," Simon added. "They'll probably get together on their own."

"I thought they were already together," Sho piped in.

Wally hummed in agreement.

"I'm sorry, can we go back to the _drugging_ thing?" Jellal repeated, trying to be calm.

"It's not anything bad, we just spiked his drink a bit," Erigor said, waving it off. "Plus, it's not like he wouldn't have drank it if he didn't want to. He's a dragon slayer, he can _smell_ the alcohol. _I_ could smell the alcohol."

"I still don't feel okay with that," Jellal muttered.

"Cana is a lot worse," Lyon pointed out. "She keeps drinking like crazy."

"Wait, are you telling me _Cana_ is the one that's been stealing liquor from the basement?" Sho asked.

"Yes," several people deadpanned.

"Does Elle know?" Jellal asked.

Erigor snorted. "No, but I'm sure that she'd be able to figure it out. Cana _really_ likes drinking. Like...a lot. So I wouldn't be surprised if she drank a lot in the other timeline, too. If Elle knew that someone was stealing from the basement, she'd probably be able to pin it on Cana."

"But-" Freed started.

"I still think we should tell Elle," Nab said.

Jet shook his head. "But it's like it doesn't even affect Cana. Well, I know it does by the end of the day, but she has more tolerance than Macao and Wakaba, it's crazy!"

Bickslow sighed again. His friends were such gossips.

"BACK TO THE ELLAXUS!" Freed shouted. "We must commence our plans!"

"You're forgetting that they spent a good few months with us," Gray pointed out. "During which, they spent most of their nights together, cuddled up in a tent."

"From what I saw, I'm sure that they'll get together on their own, soon enough," Lyon added.

"Besides, it's not like their relationship has changed at all," Gray commented.

"That's not true," Bickslow said.

They all turned to look at him. "What do you mean?" Gray asked.

Bickslow was quiet, before taking a deep breath. "My Figure Eyes allows me to see a lot about people's relationships. On her birthday, it changed. I think, at the very least, they realize they have feelings for each other."

"Why haven't they done anything, yet?" Freed asked.

"Maybe because their relationship isn't like that," Bickslow said, shrugging. "At the time, they don't need to do anything else, because I think they're both fine with where they are."

* * *

I'm not quite sure how I'm supposed to react around Laxus now that I know I'm in love with him.

Luckily, though, I spent most of the time with Juvia and Millianna, giving them special days.

I felt bad for not helping the Oracion Seis, but I couldn't neglect these kids; they were my family, and so I spent time with them.

Though I spent most of my time with Millianna planting catnip in my backyard for her…which I was a little wary about, because I'm pretty sure that catnip is like weed for cats.

But Hiro Fucking Mashima can barely get anything straight, so even if it is in my old world, that doesn't mean it is in this world.

She promised to take care of them while I was gone, and then it was time to leave.

Yukino, though she did still look up to Kagura as an older sister, didn't want me to leave, and was a bit upset she wouldn't be staying with me. Wally pointed out that if she wanted Sorano _in addition_ to me, that she'd have to let me leave, and that finally let her let me go.

Before I left, I met up with Cana, and we made a different type of tracking based off of the scales I had found.

The regular magic for it wasn't working, so instead, this would allow me to go into a trance and experience the world through Cubellios's eyes.

It would be a lot harder to find them that way, but it was the only thing I could think of.

After creating the cards, Cana hugged me and wished me luck, and it was time for me to go on my way.

Except Laxus stopped me.

"You remember what I told you, right?" he asked.

I smiled at him softly. "Yeah, I remember."

He looked me in the eyes and nodded slowly. "Side by side, Elle. If you need help with anything, you can always count on me."

"Side by side," I repeated, and he pulled me into a hug.

I took a moment to just enjoy the feeling.

"Thanks, Laxus," I said finally, stepping back. "Goodbye."

"Bye, Elle," he said softly. "Good luck."

I smiled and teleported away.

* * *

From what I could tell through Cubellios's senses, they were in a mountain range not too far from Magnolia.

Not that it made them any easier to find them.

But Cubellios had overheard Brain telling a member to go shopping for something in Onibas, and the member had pointed out that Magnolia was closer; and then Brain mentioned that Fairy Tail was in Magnolia, and the guy shut up almost immediately.

And so, I made my way to the mountains.

Just so it's been said; the mountains SUCK.

Okay, so it's not the mountains' fault that I ended up wet and cold and covered in mud, but I still hate the place.

You see, teleportation comes in handy, but not if you _don't know where you're going_. So I had to wander around in the forest on the mountains for hours, and eventually I slipped and rolled down a giant slope.

On the one hand, it fucking sucks.

And on the other, I actually found the base.

Accidentally.

 _Fuck_ Mashima.

And then I saw it.

 _Oh, shit_.

I froze, looking directly at Cubellios, who stared back, hearing my heart beat rapidly in the silence.

"Cubellios," I said quietly. "Can you understand me? If you can, I think I can help get Erik out of here. I'd take him and the other kids back home, to my guild, and we would be a family."

The silence after that seemed to echo, until slowly, _slowly_ , Cubellios nodded.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

Upon rolling down the mountain, I had found Brain's base, though most of it was obviously underground.

I turned to Cubellios. "I don't know how much you can understand, so for now, we'll stick to yes and no questions, alright?"

She nodded.

"Do you know how many kids are in the base?"

She nodded. _YES._

"Is it just the five of them?" I asked. "Erik, Sorano, Macbeth, Sawyer and Richard?"

She shook her head. _NO_.

I blinked. "Are there more than five other kids?"

 _NO._

"So there's less than ten?"

 _YES_.

"Are there more than eight?"

 _NO_.

"Are there more than seven?"

 _NO_.

"Are there six kids?"

She nodded again, all while giving me an expression that seemed to be making fun of my intelligence.

"Nod if it's a boy, shake your head if it's a girl."

She nodded. _BOY._

I paused, thinking. "Do you know about magic types?"

Nothing. So...she didn't know the answer?

"Have you heard the phrase 'Lost Magic'?" I asked.

She nodded.

"Do you know if any of the kids have Lost Magic?" I asked.

She nodded again.

"Does Erik?"

 _YES._

Then he's already had the lacrima implanted.

"Does anyone else?"

She nodded again.

Then it has to be the boy. "Is the other one the boy who's name I don't know?"

She nodded.

I bit my lip. If he knew Lost Magic… "Is his hair white, black or brown?"

She shook her head.

"Red, orange, or yellow?"

 _NO_.

"So, it's either green, blue or purple. Is it green?"

 _YES._

Green. A green-haired boy with Lost…Magic…

I looked back down at Cubellios. "Is his name Orga Nanagear?"

She nodded.

I frowned to myself. I didn't know anything about Orga's past. Was-

I stopped as I heard the noise, and saw as a man appeared. A man I recognized, and _was not expecting_.

And I really hoped I didn't have to fight him, because I knew for a fact that he was stronger than Brain, who I don't think I could handle on my own.

I stayed where I was, already well hidden, and watched as a trapdoor slid open and Brain walked up a flight of steps to meet the man, dragging a small, green-haired boy with him.

Orga.

Who was actually decidedly adorable at the present time.

Brain threw him forward onto the ground, and I curled my hands into fist, trying my hardest not to make a sound.

"He's not the right fit," Brain said flatly. "He's all yours."

"Why should I take him?" Hades asked back.

"He has Lost Magic," Brain stated. "You wanted that, right?"

"How?"

"He was inserted with a God Slayer Lacrima a few months ago."

Hades nodded. "That is acceptable. Come, boy. Oh…Brain."

Brain looked back at Hades. "What is it?"

"That girl, you warned me about…she took out one of my men."

"I warned you," Brain said.

"For whichever one of us sees her next…" Hades said quietly. "Make sure she gets hit with a few good kicks, from whichever one of us can't be there."

Brain smirked. "I couldn't agree more."

Hades looked back down at Orga. "Come, boy."

Orga stood up, off the ground, and slowly started trailing behind after Hades.

Brain turned around, entering the underground base again, and the second the door shut after him, Orga raised his hands, shouting, " _Lightning God's Charged Particle Cannon_!"

It struck Hades, and gave Orga enough time to run (though it was nowhere near as strong as it was in the future).

As he passed me, I grabbed Orga and dragged him into the bush, whispering, " _Pluto's Cover_." He continued to struggle as shadows coated us, and I hissed in his ear. "Quiet, or he'll find us!"

Hades roared in anger, yelling and searching through the forest, and Brain came out to see what was wrong.

"That damned brat escaped!" Hades yelled.

"It was probably that Fairy Tail-" Brain started.

"Oh, enough with the Fairy Tail!" Hades yelled. "You're starting to get paranoid! I hardly doubt that girl was the one who caused this."

Orga turned to look at me from where I held him in my arms, and he pointed at me and then the two men talking.

Smiling, I nodded, and shifted a bit so he could see the guildmark on my back.

He smiled, and bit his lip to stop from giggling.

Eventually, Brain went back inside, and Hades returned to his airship, which was flying overhead.

I relaxed.

"Why does he hate you?" the kid's tiny voice came out. It was _so_ hard to believe that this was Orga; he was just so adorable, especially compared to the hulking guy he'd been in the future.

"I've caused a lot of trouble for him…" I muttered. " _Paranoid fucker_."

Orga giggled at the words, and I remembered that God Slayers were a lot like Dragon Slayers, so he'd definitely be able to hear me.

As he looked back at the facility, though, his face darkened, and he grew sad.

"Hey, don't worry," I told him. "I'm gonna rescue the rest of the kids in there."

His eyes widened. "You are?"

I nodded. "Yep. And I've got someone on the inside."

"Who?"

I jerked my head to the snake next to us, and Orga gasped as he realized who it was, having not even noticed her due to her small size. "Cubellios?"

Cubellios nodded at him.

"Can I come?" he asked.

I sighed and nodded. "Fine."

He smiled.

"Alright, you guys ready?" I said to them. "Orga, we've still got my spell covering us, and it should make it hard for them to hear or sense us. Just in case, though, I'd rather sneak everyone out... _just in case_. Less chance of them coming after us."

He nodded, and Cubellios nodded eagerly, too.

"Then let's save some kids."

* * *

 **I don't know if Cana x Lyon will be a thing, but there's an option for it, anyway. That's why they have multiple strings.**

 **Next stop: Chapter Seventy Six - Oracion Seis, Part One**


	76. The Oracion Seis, Part One

**Beginning of the first angst arc! We're getting two angst arcs back to back. While this first one, (the Oracion Seis one) shouldn't be too bad, the next one is probably going to be on a different level.**

* * *

 **Chapter Seventy Six - Oracion Seis, Part One**

We snuck in through the air vents, and for once I was glad for my smaller size. Laxus wouldn't have been able to do this.

I felt naked again, not wearing my inhibiting bracelets, but I couldn't let what happened last time happen again.

"There," Orga whispered, coming to a stop. "It's a dead end, we can't get any farther. I think we're near a storage room."

I nodded, though he couldn't see it, as he was in front of me. "Can you get down there yourself?"

"Uh…"

"Is someone in the room?" I asked.

"No," he said. "I'm just not sure I can get the vent open."

I stopped to think. We needed the air vents to get in, but not necessarily to get out.

"Cubellios," I turned to the tiny snake that was slithering beside me. It's hard to believe she was ever this small, as she was only around three feet at most. "Can you wind around my arm?"

She slithered up and circled around, and I felt a little nervous.

She was, after all, venomous.

And I have never exactly held a snake before; the scales were cool to touch, and while they weren't the type of snuggle buddies I usually love, I realized that I actually kinda like snakes.

Except maybe I should start with constrictors; venomous snakes might still be too much for me.

 _Calm down, it's only Kinana_ , I chanted to myself.

 _She still bit Erza!_ Another part of me shrieked.

I sighed. I really hate my mind, sometimes.

I moved as far as I could to the side of the vent, and gestured for Orga to come closer. He did, confused.

"Hold on tight," I told them, as I wrapped his arms around me and gripped his arms. "I haven't done this before."

"Haven't done what?" he asked.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. " _Pluto's Body_."

We phased through the vent and fell to the floor.

"Fuck!"

"Ow…" Orga said, even though he had mostly fallen on me.

Cubellios slithered off of my arm, completely unharmed, and I could have sworn she was laughing at me.

"Alright, kiddo, come on," I grunted. "We can't snooze on the job."

Orga slipped off of me, and I sat up.

Now that I had used Pluto again, after using Haumea, I could feel the difference between that and the other planets. For one, they felt a lot less powerful, and I suddenly realized that the problems I have had with Pluto weren't because _I_ had difficulties with the elements, but because the dwarf planets had a limited capacity.

But despite that, using the dwarf planets just felt a bit…weird.

A shiver ran down my spine, and I promised myself that I wouldn't use Pluto or Ceres unless Erik or Rogue _really_ needed to eat.

Or it was an emergency. I'd already used Pluto twice today, and it was making me feel…weird.

Speaking of which, I should probably start calling Rogue 'Ryos', because that's his real name.

"Are you okay?" Orga asked.

"Yeah," I said a bit uneasily. "I just... don't like using that element that much. Come on."

We were in what looked like a storage lab, and as my gaze swept through the shelves I noticed something immediately, my mouth droppping in shock.

It's a good thing that Brain is such a stickler for organization.

"What are you doing?" Orga asked, as I headed for the cabinet labeled 'Lacrimas'.

Toma was right about how requip worked; If no one could get the Dragon Cry, that also meant that they wouldn't be able to get anything else in my requip space.

Reaching for the cabinet, I pulled open the top drawer, my eyes widening, before switching to the other two drawers, each labeled by a different type.

I was amazed that there were so many of them.

My fists tightened. Just what the hell were the dark guilds here going to pull?

"Elle?" Orga asked.

"I'm fine," I said, grabbing the cabinet and requipping all of it. "I'm not going to let these assholes hurt more people."

Still…all of those Slayer lacrimas…I wonder what happened to them last time around.

"Let's go," I said, and the three of us turned through the door, which Cubellios slithered up to.

We went closer to the door, and I turned to Orga. "Listen, all Slayers have advanced senses. So I want you to close your eyes, and focus on the sound. What do you hear?"

Orga closed his eyes, thinking. "I hear…your breathing…and your heartbeat. I can tell where you and Cubellios are…"

"Is anyone else near us?" I asked.

He shook his head without opening his eyes, still concentrating on the surroundings.

"Good," I said. "Let's go."

He opened his eyes and I opened the door, the three of us sneaking out.

I followed Cubellios, who was easily heading the same place Orga was.

"Were you guys all kept together?" I asked him.

He nodded. "Not in the same room, but we had our own section. What did Brain call it again…?"

"A wing?" I guessed.

He nodded.

We continued, keeping a lookout for any guards or dark mages, when we finally came to a stop.

"This is it," Orga said.

Despite not wanting to use it again, I knew that I didn't want to open the door; there was probably an alarm system connected to it.

"Cubellios, we're going to phase through, okay?" I told her, pulling Orga to me.

She nodded, and slithered through a small hole in the door, one obviously made for her.

" _Pluto's Body_ ," I said, stepping forward with Orga.

It was worse this time, because I kept it suspended for a longer period of time. When I fell from the vents, I just needed to phase through the vent, and gravity would take care of the rest. Since I had to actively move now, it was a lot more difficult.

I used Pluto three times today, and I thought I could hear some whisperings in the back of my mind.

We passed through the door and I collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily, feeling on odd urge to shower and scrub my skin raw. There was a sound of something clattering to the floor, and my attention was drawn to the five kids that were eating together, all a bit frozen in shock.

"Orga!" Sorano yelled, unfreezing first, running over and hugging him, and I realized that Orga was easily the youngest of the bunch.

"Who's this?" Sawyer asked testily.

"She's a friend."

This wasn't said by Orga, but rather, Erik, who was looking at me like he saw an angel.

"What's she thinking?" Macbeth asked.

Erik shook his head. "I can't read her thoughts, but I can feel her feelings. She's here to save us."

I softly smiled at him, and stood up as my strength returned. "I'm getting all of you out of here. If you want to keep anything with you, take it."

"But Father-" Macbeth started, but I cut him off.

"He's not your father!" He was silent, and I came up to him, kneeling at his side and putting a hand on his shoulders – even though he was older than me. "A friend of mine, his biological father hurt him. Actively. He wouldn't let him have any fun, there was abuse – both verbal and physical. And if someone; if your _family_ does that to you – they don't deserve to call themselves family."

He closed his mouth at that, and stayed still, deep in thought.

"You can come back here if you wish – I'll show you how – but I'd like for you to at least try joining my family."

"Okay," Erik said, simply. Cubellios hissed happily and curled up around him.

"I'm going!" Orga said happily.

Sorano ruffled his hair, and she smiled, too. "So will I…"

"I'll go too," Richard said.

"I don't want to stay here any longer than I have to," Sawyer muttered.

I looked back to Macbeth, the only one left. "Macbeth? We're waiting on you. Will you come with us?"

He waited, and slowly took my outstretched hand. "Yeah."

I smiled. "Great. Does everyone have what they need?"

They all nodded, and I gathered them around. "Hold hands, and hold tight."

They encircled hands, and I looked around the room as I closed my eyes and concentrated. " _Eris's Trick_."

Another one of the dwarf planets, but since I haven't mastered this element yet, it shouldn't affect me.

The world around us shimmered, flickering a few times (since I wasn't used to the spell), until I pumped more magic in it and five copies of the Oracion Seis appeared in the room.

"Why isn't there one for me?" Orga asked.

"We're not taking these with us," I said. "These are just illusions. Brain won't be happy when he learns that you guys are gone, and this should at least stall him long enough for us to get to Fairy Tail."

"Illusions, you said?" Macbeth asked, eyeing his copy. "Hmm… I've been wondering about possibly learning Illusion Magic…"

"You should," I said, nodding. "It goes well with your Reflector Magic."

He looked wary at me when he realized I knew that, but he nodded anyway.

"Are you guys all ready?" I asked.

They nodded, and tightened their hands on each other. I closed my eyes, teleporting us outside the facility.

"Alright," I said, turning to point at the building they were in. "This is where you guys were in. So you know how to return here if you want to. Magnolia isn't actually too far from here, so we'll just walk."

"How long will it be?" Sawyer asked.

I shrugged. "A few hours, at most."

I started leading the way, and the six of them tagged behind me.

* * *

 **If any of my readers are Veterans, thank you very much for your service to this country. I hope you're able to spend a nice evening with your family. :)**


	77. The Oracion Seis, Part Two

**Okay, only saying it once; I don't know what Deathwing is. Sorry if I referenced it and you though you found another fandom to chat with me with.**

 **Credit goes to Anti-Social Psychopath and TheRangerBoy on Fanfiction for helping me realize that apple seeds aren't strong enough for battle. I apologize if you also reminded me of this and I didn't put down your name.**

 **Also, if you catch the reference, good. If not, go check out Dizzasta's channel on YouTube, you should like what you'll find. It's #4.**

* * *

 **Chapter Seventy Seven - Oracion Seis, Part Two**

After a while of walking, one of them broke the silence.

"Is there a reason why you wanted to get us?" Richard asked.

"Kinda," I said. "There were…three reasons. One, I ended up with knowledge of how this timeline turns out, and it's not exactly the best ending. You guys deserved a better hand than the one you were dealt with in that life, so I'm here to try and divert it before it becomes too bad."

"Is that how you know our names?" Macbeth asked, slightly suspiciously.

I nodded. "In the other timeline, you all ended up going by aliases, but eventually, we learned your real names. The only thing I don't know are your ages, so we should fix that. I'm Eleanor Rigby, thirteen years old, of the Fairy Tail guild. I tend to go by the name Elle, though I'm not adverse to any other nicknames."

"Now, youngest to oldest," I said, looking at Orga.

"I'm Orga Nanagear," he said. "And I'm seven! I'll be eight in October!"

Same age as Kagura and Millianna then.

I nodded, and Sorano spoke up next. "I'm Sorano Aguria and I turned ten in April."

"I'm Sawyer," Sawyer said. "I'm twelve. My birthday is in April, too."

"I'm Erik," Erik said, still looking at me with that expression on his face. "I…turn fourteen later this year, next month in June."

So, eleven months older than me.

"I'm Macbeth," Macbeth said, with a wary look on his face. "I'm fourteen, and I'll be fifteen in December."

And eleven months younger than Laxus.

"I'm Richard," Richard said. "I will turn seventeen in two months."

That might explain why Richard switched over during the Nirvana incident - he was the oldest, so the brainwashing probably didn't affect him as much.

"It's odd, thinking that you're younger than a few of us," Erik said, still looking at me like that.

I shrugged.

"You said three reasons," Macbeth stated. "What were the other two?"

I blinked. "Oh right! Sorry, I can't believe I forgot." I spun around and walked backwards so I could face Sorano and Richard. "I promised your siblings I'd help find you!" My gaze drifted to Sawyer. "And I promised Jet and Droy that I'd help find you!"

"So, helping people reunite is another one of your reasons," Macbeth said, undeterred as the other three started getting teary-eyed, though Sawyer was obviously trying to stop himself. Sorano and Richard were hugging each other, obviously past caring and just excited they'd be reunited with their siblings soon. "What's your last one?"

"Erik…" I said quietly, and something about my tone made them all pause. "Your one wish…is to hear Cubellios, right?"

He stopped, looking shocked. "How…how did you know?"

"'To hear the voice of my friend'," my gaze drifted to Sorano, "'to be freed of the land and vanish into the sky…like an angel'," I moved my gaze onto Sawyer, and then Richard, "'to be faster than anyone', 'to reunite with my brother'," and finally my gaze landed on Macbeth, "'and to be able to sleep in a quiet place'."

I turned my gaze back to Erik. "You cannot hear Cubellios's voice because Cubellios is not a snake."

Erik blinked, before asking, "Is she a dragon?"

I looked back at him, confused. "A dragon?"

He nodded. "I'm a dragon slayer, and she can fly and stuff…"

"No, she's not a dragon," I said. "She's a human."

The whole group stopped walking. "What?" Erik asked.

"Her real name is Kinana," I said. "And she was cursed into the form of a snake when she was young. The last reason I'm bringing you guys back to my guild, is so my guild master can help turn her back to how she was. When she's human, you'll finally get the chance to hear her voice."

His eyes started to tear up, until he was moving quickly and slammed into me, clutching at me. I realized that even though he was almost over a year older than me, Erik was barely any taller than I was (which is saying something, because I'm fucking _short)._

In fact, compared to the rest of the kids their respective ages in the guild, they were a lot smaller than they should've been.

And even though the Tower kids were smaller than they should've been, these kids were still smaller than that.

I remembered Ultear when I stumbled across her, and she seemed smaller than she should have, too.

 _Brain_ , my own brain hissed, as my arms wrapped around Erik and I hugged him softly.

"Shh…" I hushed, starting to rock him, messing with his large mop of hair. "It's okay, Erik."

"Is it?" Macbeth asked harshly. "After all we've been through. After the _Tower_?"

I looked over at him. "'Okay' doesn't always mean what we think it means, Macbeth. But what I mean is that there are always positives that can be found; and that despite all of the wrongs that have been dealt to you, and all of the things that you've been through, it'll get better from now on. You have each other, you have me, and you have my guild. And you are stronger than you think."

He seemed to freeze a bit at that, and Erik hugged me a bit harder. "Thank you," he whispered.

I smiled at him, reaching up a bit to ruffle his hair.

He seemed to be a huge softie.

I'm glad that I got to him in time, then…

"Come on, guys," I said softly. "Let's go to Magnolia, alright?"

They nodded and we began to walk again.

"So you know where our siblings are?" Richard asked.

I nodded. "They're both at the guild; well, Yukino has been living with me since she's so young. You guys don't have to join the guild if you don't want to, even though most people do. Wally might want to leave, but I think you're stuck with us, Sorano. Yukino has gotten a bit attached to us."

She beamed. "I'm fine with that."

I continued. "We've actually got a bunch of people we ended up saving from the Tower."

"You saved them from the Tower?" Macbeth asked, wide-eyed.

I nodded. "Fairy Tail ended up taking down the Tower in mid-October. According to Wally, we had only missed you by about a week."

I sighed. "I would have found you sooner, but Brain is really good at blocking tracking magic, and it was difficult getting around it."

"How'd you do it, then?" Orga asked, interested, and he ended up skipping up next to me.

"I ended up finding some of Cubellios's scales, and made a type of card so I could 'see' through her eyes." I made air quotes. "I could also hear through her, and she overheard Brain and an underling talking about some things, which helped me find out the location."

"Cool," Orga said. "Can I try?"

I laughed and passed along the card. "Just put it to your forehead."

He did as told and gasped. "Whoa! This is so cool!"

I smiled and laughed a bit as a question came to mind.

"I do have a question for the two of you, Orga, Erik," I said.

They turned to look at me.

"How long ago were you implanted with the lacrima?" I asked.

"You mean the dragon slayer lacrima?" Erik asked. "A few months ago."

"I've only had mine for a few weeks," Orga muttered. "Brain lied to the other guy."

"Hmm…" I muttered. "Have you eaten yet?"

"Eaten what?" Erik asked.

I blinked. "Your element. All Slayers need to eat their respective elements in order to survive. It also works as a quick power fix."

"I need to _eat lightning_?" Orga asked.

 _"Lightning?_ Forget lightning, I NEED TO EAT POISON!" Erik shrieked.

"Calm down," I said, rolling my eyes and trying to hold back any giggles, but also trying to hold back my anger at how different Erik was compared to Cobra. "We have two types of slayers in the guild." I looked back to Erik. "One of them, Laxus, is the Lightning Dragon Slayer. Like you, he had a dragon lacrima implanted in him a few years ago. He can help you guys develop. But as for now, you need to eat as soon as possible."

I requipped out my jar of apple seeds. I found out (via Freed and Levy) that apple seeds, while they did have cyanide, would be very unlikely to work as a strong power up in the middle of the fight. However, it was a nice thing that Erik could snack on on the way back.

"Here," I handed it to him.

"Are these apple seeds?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yep."

"Wait, is there poison in apple seeds?" Sorano asked, her voice squeaking.

"Yeah, there's a small amount of cyanide. You'd need a _lot_ to kill a human being, but I don't want to start Erik off with something too powerful or strong, so this should help start it off."

Erik hesitantly took a whiff of them and then quickly threw a bit in his mouth. His eyes sparkled as he took in the taste. "This is the best thing I've eaten in months!"

"That's because you haven't felt full," I told him. "You need poison, or else you'll be in a constant flux of starvation. On the bright side," I grimaced here. "You can always use anything that could potentially kill a human if it's ingested. Everything from kerosene to alcohol."

Macbeth started laughing. "Does this mean he won't get drunk?"

"Awww!" Erik said sadly, shoving Macbeth to the side. Macbeth continued snickering and walked back over.

"What about me?" Orga asked.

I lit up my hand with electricity. "Here's some."

"Why's yours purple?" he asked.

"Fuck you, that's why," I said. "Besides, you're one to talk. Yours is black."

"Isn't it supposed to be yellow?" Sawyer muttered, as Orga slurped down the lightning happily.

"Shut the fuck up, Sawyer!" I told him.

We continued walking, and I shifted my gaze to Sorano. "Hey, has Brain started you on magic?"

She scowled. "He's tried me with stupid Celestial Spirit magic, but these damn spirits suck!"

I scowled back at her. "Don't talk about them like that. It's not the spirits fault, and it's not yours either. You aren't compatible with Celestial Spirit magic. Spirits still have feelings, though, and you don't get to mistreat them."

By the end of my scolding, Sorano looked like a sad puppy, and she pulled out some keys. "Then…you should probably have these."

I took them and glanced at them. She had more than a few keys – Equuleus - the pony, Lupus – the wolf, Lynx (three guesses), and two Canis Minors.

She also had a Lepus, Caelum, Vulpecula and Serpens key, but Lucy already had those.

Lucy still needed the right Canis Minor, so I put Equuleus, Lupus and Lynx all in the Silver Key section for Lucy.

I separated the Canis Minors, one for Hisui and one for Yukino, and also put Lepus and Vulpecula with Hisui's keys. Yukino could have Caelum and Serpens.

"Why did you have two Canis Minors?" I asked.

"He has my trying to summon two at once," Sorano said, scowling. "I could barely support one spirit out, but he had me trying to pull out two of them at the same time."

No, I could understand that.

"But what magic am I going to use, if that one's not right?" she complained.

I requipped the book about Moon Magic. "Here. This is a magic that's been passed down your bloodline. I'm sure you'll find that it's a lot easier to learn."

She took it easily, gripping it tightly.

"Will we have a place to live?" Sawyer asked worriedly.

"Yes," I said, as everyone stopped walking.

As one, they heaved a sigh of relief and continued walking.

It's kinda funny how in sync they were.

"There's Fairy Hills for girls, and Fairy Valleys for Boys. Also, we recently built Fairy Fields, which has attached suites (kinda like a double or triple bedroom apartment) for siblings. If you're over thirteen, you are charged rent, but since you're all mages, you can go on jobs. Also," I looked at Richard. "You get a discount if your siblings are under thirteen. And you guys will get a bit of 'free-be' time until you can properly get on your feet and go on missions."

"Really?" he asked happily.

I nodded. "Rent for single rooms are usually 100,000 Jewels a month, but for the first few months, it's not that bad. First month is free, second month is 10,000 Jewels, third is 20,000 Jewels, etc. The guild will also help with some food, but you'll ultimately want to buy your own. You don't want to survive off of the guild food, trust me."

"Is Fairy Fields more expensive?" Richard asked.

I nodded. "It's 150,000 Jewels a month there, though you get the same pattern for the adjustment period. Though if you have someone under the age limit, it's cut in half until they're of age."

"How much does it cost in Fairy Valleys?" Erik asked.

"100,000 Jewels," I repeated. "But you don't need to be related to live in Fairy Fields with someone else. Sho and Erza live in there together…though I'm not sure why, as they're _both_ under the age limit. Then again, so are Kagura and Simon…maybe it's just a familial thing..."

"Sho and Erza and Simon…that sounds familiar," Richard muttered.

"They were friends with Wally, in the Tower," I said. "That might be where you know their names from."

Richard nodded.

Orga yawned, stretching. "Are we there yet, Nee-chan?"

I chuckled, ruffling his hair. "Soon. In fact…" I ran ahead a bit, and he sped up after me, the others following suit.

Sawyer got there first, his own magic slowing us down, and he stopped when he saw the view.

"Oh…it's so pretty…" Sorano whispered.

The seven of us stood on the hill, overlooking the city. We weren't out of the forest yet, but we were getting close to the edge.

"You guys see that big building at the back, near the waterfront?" I asked.

"That's…" Erik started, losing his voice.

"Fairy Tail," I said proudly. "Come on."

More than a few of them shared smiles, and we began to trek forward, when we all heard a voice that made all of us freeze in fear.

"Not so fast."


	78. The Oracion Seis, Part Three

**To the tune of 'Shots' by Party Rock Anthem.**

 **Angst, angst, angst angst, angst angst, angst, angst angst, angst angst, angst, angst angst, angst angst, EVERYBODY.**

* * *

 **Chapter Seventy Eight - Oracion Seis, Part Three**

No. No no no no no no no no.

I knew that voice, and it wasn't Brain.

"Hades," I said, somewhat cordially and trying to keep my cool as I turned around. "Nice to meet you. Though, personally, I prefer the name Precht. That's just me, though."

His eyes widened, but I continued, my gaze passing to the person behind him and narrowing at who I saw. "Brain," I hissed.

Kinda funny how he was obviously Hades's subordinate.

There was no way I could take both of them on - I could barely take one of them on.

"Ahh…if it isn't the pain in my ass," he said, looking at me. "Still a pain, I see."

"Ahh, if it isn't a dick," I responded. "Still a piece of shit, I see."

He growled. "You stole from me."

"Did I though?" I asked. "Does it count as stealing from you if you don't own it?"

"YES."

Hades stood off to the side, simply observing while we spoke, and I tried to maneuver the kids all into one place.

Brain noticed what I was doing. "If you are smart, you will return these children to me."

"No way in hell!" I yelled, my magical pressure building up. "I'll never let you get your hands on these kids again!"

I turned for them, but his target was farthest away from me, even though it was only by a few steps.

"If I can't have them, then NO ONE CAN," he turned to Macbeth, his hand outstretching. " _DARK CAPRICCIO_!"

Faster than I'd ever done anything else, I moved in front of Macbeth, shouting " _Venus's Reflective Shield_!"

I barely got it up in time, and the pressure of his magic clashing with mine still pushed me back several feet, leaving gashes in the ground and nearly crashing me into Macbeth, who put his hands on my shoulders and steadied me.

"Everyone, grab each other's hands," I said, gritting my teeth, and digging my feet into the ground to stop from being pushed back even further.

They all listened, and I turned to Macbeth, the one nearest to me, with one hand. My other hand was still in front of me, holding up the shield.

I checked that they were all connected before I grabbed his hand and tried to teleport.

Nothing happened.

"What's wrong?" Erik asked.

"I can't teleport!" I said, panicked.

"Ah, yes," Hades said, watching the scene from the side, but still behind the shield. He held up something I recognized. "That Clive girl is really _something_. I must remember to thank her."

In his hands was something most people didn't even know about. It was a test card to stop magic within a barrier (sort of like Freed's runes) but it can only block one specific type of magic, because we were unable to make it store any more than that. More than that, though, the magic had to be programmed into the card - you could make it block whatever type of magic you wished. But still, it could only stop one type of magic, and it didn't physically stop anyone.

That's why it's only a prototype.

Blood drained from my face.

There was only one thing I could do, and I _really_ didn't want to do it.

But since the barrier didn't stop anyone physically...

"Get out of here," I gritted my teeth, focusing all of my power on the shield and expanding it's range, so Hades couldn't pass around and attack from the side.

"But-" Orga protested.

"Now!" I yelled, whipping my head around to meet their eyes. "Get to the guild! Tell them I sent you, explain what happened. If you can get there in time, send reinforcements."

"What do you mean, _in time_?" Sorano asked, her voice wavering.

"Go!" I shouted. "We're too far away for Laxus or Silver to hear me - those are the other slayers, and even with their advanced hearing, we're too far away from them and the guild is too loud. Erik can keep track of what's happening with his hearing. But you need to go and get to the guild. If you can, send Laxus. Hell, and Makarov, Gildarts or Ur. If you mention that it was Brain, Ur will be pretty pissed, she's wanted a piece of him for _years_. But uh...actually don't send Makarov, he'll probably have a heart attack when he learns that Hades is Precht. And try to remember to tell them about Precht having Cana's cards, tell Freed he had to up everyone's security."

Instructions, just in case I couldn't get back from this.

I doubted they would be able to send reinforcements in time, but if they could, Ur...Ur would be good.

She's wanted to kick Brain's ass for almost two years now.

But they couldn't stay. They weren't strong enough, and would likely only get in the way, stopping me from unleashing all of my power. Even now, they were having trouble breathing with my and Brain's magical presence - Hades hadn't even released his yet.

But I knew this was a fight I couldn't win. Hopefully they'd get to the guild in time and then I'll be able to leave the barrier and teleport.

"No! We can't leave you!" Macbeth shouted, and my eyes were drawn to him. His head was down, casting shadows over his face. "I refuse!"

"I don't care!" I shouted. "You need to go!"

"No!" he yelled. "You protected me! No one has ever done that before! _Ever!_ I can't just leave you behind!"

The pressure between me and Brain increased, and the wind was whipping my hair around. From the looks of some of the kids, it was getting even harder to breath than before, and if they duidn't leave soon, most of them would probably pass out.

Hades was still standing to the side, and I knew that he probably wouldn't help unless Brain specifically asked, from what I'd previously seen of dark guild members.

Either that or if I somehow miraculously managed to defeat Brain.

I turned back to the kids, and gave Macbeth a sad smile. "Macbeth, I refuse to let you get dealt the cards you got in the last life. You deserve to be happy. And if no one has done it before…plenty of other people will do it for you now. But you need to go."

"I can't!" As his face flashed up, I noticed the streams dripping down his face.

My heart went out to him.

"Macbeth…sometimes the most important part of life and friendship and _family_ is knowing what to do, and when to listen."

His heart looked broken.

"All of you! Go!"

All of them had some tears now, and Richard, being the oldest, and the responsible one he had to be, turned first, grabbing Orga (who was struggling in his arms) and running down the hill for the city.

He knew that they would only be a distraction if they stayed.

"A little help would be appreciated, Hades," Brain growled, increasing his power and pushing me back more.

 _Shit_.

Hades sighed and fired off a bullet from one of his fingers, though he was surprised when it rebounded off of my shield and hit a tree.

He began to get a curious look on his face, and it sent a feeling of foreboding through me.

My shield wavered.

"Guys, you need to _go_!" I shouted.

Sawyer was next, dragging Sorano with him, both of them going down the hill.

 _Erik, please_ , I thought, directing thoughts at him. His face showed his surprise as he received the thoughts, and I'm glad I can at least send messages to him telepathically, if he can't read my mind. _If you get to the guild and I'm still fighting, have someone send up a signal flare. Something obvious. Now go!_ _Take Macbeth and run_.

Erik's tears were running faster now, and he grabbed Macbeth, pulling him down the hill, both of them trying their hardest to not look back and to keep running despite the tears running down their faces.

And now I could concentrate on the fight.

I turned back to Brain, but before anything could happen he dropped his spell and started up another one. "You bitch! _Dark Gravity_!"

The spell hit me, pinning me to the ground, and I cried out as I was pushed farther down, breaking some of the ground around me. It was obvious that he was trying to knock me out.

But still...after he attacked me last time, I knew that I had to find a way of countering.

So I did.

I had my own cards, after all.

I requipped out one of Cana's cards and slammed it to my chest, lightening myself and the air around me until I could stand.

Hades chuckled, before he finally stopped holding back his magic. The pressure from releasing all of it nearly put me back on my knees again. "She sure is persistent."

Brain growled, releasing the gravity spell and powering up something else. " _Dark Capriccio; Zero Slash_."

The spell formed again as a whip and slammed into me, making me wince in pain, and I suddenly remembered that _Brain_ didn't know how to use this spell. Only one person did.

Sure enough, looking at Brain, I could see his skin lightening and his eyes turning red.

 _Zero_.

" _Uranus's Solidification_ ," I shouted, channeling all of my ice magic into the whip as it hit me a second time.

"My _what_?" he screeched, and luckily seemed to turn back into Brain as my spell froze his over, turning it to ice and shattering it.

"Enough of this," Hades said, stepping forward. "She is one of the Five, correct?"

"Yes," Brain hissed, glaring at me and channeling up his magic again.

" _Cleansing Power of Venus_!" I shouted, remembering that it had hurt Brain last time - just like how he probably remembered that I didn't have a good defense against his gravity magic.

Maybe it would work on both of them -

Hades blocked it before it even got close, his eyes locking on mine, and my heart sped up as I broke out into a cold sweat. I felt more scared than I'd ever been. "Then I will finish this now."

He held out his hands and started swiping them, and my face paled as I recognized the hand movements, having seen them used against Laxus before, during the Tenrou Island arc.

Shit.

As purple formulas surrounded me, I located some of my assault weapons in my requip space and projected it over their heads, dropping dozens of frying pans, skillets and anvils on top of them. The resulting cacophony from the clashing metals as they rained down upon them mixed with their cries of pain was music to my ears, and felt extremely satisfying.

But I couldn't see the result as the spell activated. " _Formula 10_."

I screamed as the Amaterasu formula hit me, striking me from all sides.

My body felt like it was on fire, and then it felt limp.

The spell vanished and I collapsed on the ground, unable to move.

"We needed her," Brain said to Hades. "Were you trying to kill her?"

"I took a calculated risk that she would survive the blast, and she did. Besides," he turned to look back at Brain. "If she hadn't survived the blast, she wouldn't have fit the requirements anyway. She wouldn't be strong enough." His gaze turned back to me. "But since it paralyzes it's target, I figured this would probably be best."

It was true. It wasn't just that I couldn't move - I also didn't want to. I felt like I would fall apart if I tried. My muscles felt so tired I was surprised I didn't just turn into a puddle, and even though I tried to get them to move anyway, nothing happened.

Brain leaned down and picked up a frying pan, flipping it in his hand. "Who the hell keeps _frying pans_ in their requip space?"

"I do," I hissed glaring at him, glad my head was already tilted in a way so I could see them. There was no way I'd be able to move my neck, at this rate.

He looked down at me with a wicked smile and flipped the frying pan again. "Then, thank you."

He pulled back the pan, and I knew what was going to happen before it did.

One last time, I projected my thoughts.

 _Thank you…Erik_.

And then my own frying pan slammed into my head, and the world went dark.

* * *

They were halfway through the city when Erik's sobbing got louder.

"What's wrong?" Macbeth asked worriedly, looking over at his closest friend.

Erik said nothing, only speeding up, and soon he was near the front of the line.

"Erik!" Macbeth shouted, picking up his own pace. They weren't in very good shape; not only were they not fed properly, but they had also been unable to exercise much. And even though Brain had taught them magic, he kept them weak on purpose - probably because he'd be worried that they would leave if they could fight back properly.

Looking back over the things Brain had done, he understood everything that Elle was saying.

That spell would've killed him if Elle didn't stop it.

 _Elle_ …his heart tightened. If Erik was speeding up like that…

He pushed himself harder, and both of the boys ended up at the front of the other kids, running through the streets of Magnolia.

Macbeth's heart sunk as he realized that Sawyer's speed was only an illusion, and that's why Macbeth and Erik were moving so much faster than the other kids; there was no point in Sawyer using his magic, because it would only slow everyone else down.

People dove out of their way, and the kids came closer and closer to the doors of the guild, Erik and Macbeth side by side, each shoving one of the large doors open.

They opened with a slam, directing attention over to them. Out of the corner of his eyes, Macbeth noticed three whole tables full of children who were happily chatting with each other (though they were quieting down upon noticing their entrance).

Erik was panting beside him (though not nearly as hard), and a small, short man walked up to them.

"Hello, how can I help you kids today?" he asked brightly.

Macbeth was too busy panting, so Erik took over for him. "Elle sent us."

The man lost his smile, right as the rest of the Oracion Seis reached the doors.

"Nii-san!" Wally shouted, getting up from the table.

His shout brought a little girl's attention to the doors, and she was the next one up, darting into her sister's arms. "Sora-nee!"

"Sawyer!" Jet said happily, waving from his spot at the table.

"We're glad you're okay!" Droy said from beside him.

The happy reunions were ruined as a boy a little older than Macbeth stood up from the table, knocking his stool over. He sparked with electricity dangerously. "What happened?"

Everyone stopped and turned to look at him.

"What are you talking about, Laxus?" Wally asked.

 _Laxus,_ Macbeth thought eagerly. _This was one of the people that Elle mentioned._

"I mean, you two said that Elle sent you," his voice was low, and dangerous. "But where is she?"

Macbeth took a deep breath. "She needs your help. She held off some guys named Brain and Hades so we could escape-"

"Brain?!" a woman shouted, standing up.

"Hades?" the short man said. "As in the Master of Grimoire Heart?"

"Yeah, and Elle said to send for Laxus, Gildarts and Ur," Macbeth continued, still panting a bit.

"Where was this?" Laxus demanded.

"On the-"

"It doesn't matter." Erik's defeated voice floated over everyone.

"What did you say?" Laxus snapped at him.

"It doesn't matter!" Erik shouted. "It's too late! She's already gone!"

At this, one girl burst into tears (though others seemed close to follow), and with a crack from the sky, rain opened down upon them, thundering on the roof of the guild.

"How the hell can you know that?" Laxus yelled, turning into lightning and appearing in front of Erik. He grabbed Erik's shirt and lifted him in the air.

"Laxus, put him down!" the old man demanded.

"No way, old man! Elle is missing, and these kids just suspiciously show up out of the blue? No _fucking_ way!"

"I'm a Dragon Slayer," Erik said.

Laxus froze, Erik still up in the air. "What?"

"That's how I know what happened," Erik answered, completely defeated. He started crying more. "I heard it."

At that, Laxus's hands released, and Erik fell to the floor.

"It's more than that…" Macbeth said softly. "Erik has a special type of Listening Magic. He can read souls…uh…"

"It's kinda like mind reading, but on a deeper level," Erik muttered. "In the end…she thanked me." His voice choked up, and he fell to his knees.

"Why the hell would she do that?" Laxus roared.

"We wouldn't leave," Sorano whispered, hugging her sister tighter. "And she kept asking us to. Macbeth was the last one to leave, and Erik had to pull him away."

Laxus followed her gaze to Macbeth, and then looked back at Erik.

"You said it's kinda like mind reading, right?" he asked.

Erik nodded glumly, his eyes dark.

"You said she was fighting Brain and this...Hades guy, right? What did they do after…after they won?"

"She's still alive…" Erik said quietly. "But Brain really _really_ hates her, especially for helping all of us escape, along with some other girl with Time Magic."

One of the girls at the table let out a small wail, but she was ignored (with the exception of the woman who had shouted earlier, who took her in her arms for comfort).

"And the Hades guy ended up paralyzing her with this one spell, before they grabbed her and teleported out of my range. That spell seemed to do a lot of damage, though..."

"What spell?" Laxus asked, his eyes darkening.

"Uh..." Erik said, thinking. "I'm...not exactly sure. Hades only said 'Formula 10'."

"WHAT?" the small man yelled. "ELLE WAS HIT BY AN AMATERASU FORMULA?"

"Shit," one of the men from the table said. "You're kidding, right?"

"Why?" Laxus asked, looking between the two. "Jiji, what's an Amaterasu Formula?"

The old man seemed in shock, so he turned to the other guy. "Gildarts, what is it?"

"The Amaterasu Formulas are a type of extremely powerful and violent magic," the man responded. "One that usually causes insanity in the caster."

"Formula 10 usually ends up causing paralysis if it hits its target, but it can also be fatal, depending on how powerful the mage it hits is. If they're too weak, they'll use up all of their magical energy blocking the attack, and are still unable to completely block it. Which means that they'll still get hit with the attack, albeit a weaker version."

Laxus swirled around to stare back at Erik. "But you said she was still alive, right?"

Erik nodded.

"So...what were their thoughts?" Laxus asked, his voice lowering dangerously. "What are they going to do to her?"

"They ended up deciding on giving her to this one dark mage that they know for some plans, because I think he hates her too, and she's also one of the five bloodlines…or something, especially because he couldn't use Sorano because she was the wrong one... That part didn't really make sense. Something about them running out of time since October…"

More than a few of the guild members who had already put it together tensed. Most of the kids were left in the dark.

"Do you get the name of the mage?" Laxus asked.

Erik nodded. "I don't know his last name, so I'm not quite sure how helpful it'll be, but…he thought about giving her to a guy named Ivan. And…" he flinched. "He was really happy about the pain she'd probably go through because of him."

Laxus's lightning roar scared half the people there, and decimated what was left of the doors, as he tried to aim his attack to cause the least amount of damage.

"You know who he is?" Macbeth asked eagerly. Erik's look grew into one of hope, and the other kids seemed happier.

"Unfortunately, yes, and he does have a grudge against Elle. You see," the old man explained. "Elle is the reason he was kicked out of the guild."

All of the new kids' eyes widened. "What?" Erik asked.

"Ivan used to be a member of Fairy Tail," the man explained. "Elle convinced me to kick him out, because he is a danger to others. I am Makarov Dreyar, the Master of Fairy Tail. And Ivan is my son."

At the end of this, Laxus's body lit up even more, before finally the energy left, though he seemed just as angry. He began to laugh, before turning and punching a wall.

"Laxus?" Makarov asked.

"Shitty pops is the one that put that lacrima in my head," he said darkly. "And he's really going to regret it. Because I'm going to use it to kick his ass!"

The first girl who started crying approached him. "You promise, Onii-sama?"

He smiled at her and ruffled her hair. "Yeah, Juvia. There's no need to cry. I'll get Elle back."

The girl wiped away her tears, and the rain that pounded on the roof of the guild slowed to a trickle.

"Do you have a plan, Laxus?" Makarov asked his grandson.

"I don't need a plan!" Laxus roared, glaring at the Master. "I will find her!"

He breathed heavily, and turned to walk out of the guild. "And I will save her. End of story."

He was gone before what was left of the doors could shut behind him.

* * *

 **This is the end of the Oracion Seis arc. The real angst will be for the next few chapters...probably three or four.**

 **If you've read any of my other multichaptered works, you've probably noticed a pattern where I break the story up into parts. I managed to refrain from doing that for this story, but if I did, then I would end Part One here, even though most of you would probably figure that Part Two wouldn't start until the original timeline starts. I'd say that after this, Elle grows up a bit, and starts her 'teenage' stage of life.**

 **As for the Amaterasu Formula...I originally thought that the one he used on Laxus was Formula 100, but it was too small of an explosion, so I dropped a zero and made it Formula 10.**

 **The next chapter should be up _by_ Thursday evening.**

 **Notice I said 'by'. I will try and get it up earlier, but I want to try and get a baseline for the rest of the upcoming arc so you don't all die by heart attacks.**


	79. Ivan, Part One

**WARNING: I know that some of you read this story with your children. I suggest you read over the chapter first so you know what to edit out.**

 **I would also like to remind you that Ultear was tortured as a child, Wendy was tortured when she was twelve by the Dragon Chain Canon in Edolas, and everyone was tortured in the Tower of Heaven. After all, Erza lost her _eye._**

 **ELLE WILL NOT BE LOSING AN EYE. I am not okay with things that involve fingers, toes or eyes, so they will be left alone.**

 **The rest, however, is free game.**

 **Also, apparently Ivan calls everything '-chan'...**

* * *

 **Chapter Seventy Nine - Ivan, Part One**

Footsteps echoed down the corridor, stopping at a heavyset door. A man pulled out a ring of keys, and raised one to the lock, twisting it open.

He walked into the room, the door shutting (and automatically locking) behind him. Walking down rows and rows of empty cells, aiming for the occupied one at the end.

"Ready for your daily draining?" the man asked, smiling wickedly.

The girl in the cell, covered in tattered clothes and bruises, looked up and glared at him. "Do your worst," she said, spitting at his feet.

His face darkened, and he pulled a level next to the cell door.

A while hooked up to the machine would do her some good.

He left the room as her screams echoed down the dungeon's hall, shutting off suddenly as the door shut behind him.

* * *

I came to in a place that I would stay in for the worst days of my life. I was in a dank dungeon, in a cell all the way at the end of the hall. There was a bed(with a really shitty mattress) that I was laid down on, and I slowly sat up. My body still felt sore - like it had been run over by a truck, and I didn't know if that was from Brain's gravity attack or the Amaterasu Formula. Probably both. And deeper still, running from the core of my body through all of my veins, was a feeling of emptiness...as if something vital was missing.

Upon remembering what happened, my hands tightened into fists, and I felt the cold encircling my wrists. Where my usual inhibitors were, I instead had on the manacles I recognized from the series – the same thing that Natsu, Erza and Lisanna had to wear in the Cube, before the fight with Tartaros.

Sure enough, I couldn't feel my magic at all – that was the emptiness I was feeling.

I didn't like it.

Looking down, I noticed that I also had one on each of my ankles, and I also felt the heaviness around my neck.

Jeez, _overkill_ much?

* * *

Not long after I woke up, the door at the end of the dungeons swung open, and a man walked up to my cell bars, shadowed by the horrible lighting.

I was expecting to see Brain, or even Hades, but instead I saw Ivan, and I honestly didn't know what was worse.

All of them seemed to hate me, and I couldn't exactly use my magic freely and defend myself.

He smirked at me. "Eleanor Rigby," he said evenly. "You have no idea how _overjoyed_ I am to see you."

"Ivan Dreyar," I responded, glad my voice was just as even as his. "You have no idea how _repulsed_ I am to see you."

He lost his smirk, instead glaring at me, before he hit a button on the wall.

Oddly-shaped chains flew out of the wall, five of them, each clipping onto one of my cuffs.

Ivan's smirk returned, and (smiling all the while) he pulled a lever down.

A scream tore through my throat as my magic was pulled from inside me, even though (with the cuffs I wore) access to my magic should have been closed off.

I don't know how long it lasted, but eventually, the machine shut down. I was exhausted, flat on the bed, and I could barely turn my head to see the space around me. Upon looking back at the cell bars (which was much harder than it should have been), I noticed the lever down, and Ivan smiling gladly. "Let me tell you about this…you see, this machine actively drains your magic, even though it's pulled through the cuffs which block it off. Do you like it?" he smiled evilly. "I had it especially made for you, Eleanor-chan. It's meant to be as painful as possible."

I felt exhausted, like I just drained my entire container, and the only thing I could think was… "Porlyusica is gonna be _so_ pissed at you."

His smile disappeared, and he scowled. "What does my mother have to do with it?"

That's right. Sometimes I forget that if Porlyusica is Laxus's grandmother, that also means she's Ivan's mother.

I shrugged, thinking about my Overload and what had happened to Ultear in the past. "It's complicated. But if she gets near you and has her broom…"

For a second, what seemed like fear flashed across his face, but eventually, it disappeared.

Nice to know he's still scared of his mommy.

But then it was gone, and he was sneering at me. "Who cares what the old hag thinks?"

"Now Ivan," I said, frowning at him, trying to be as condescending as possible. "That's not nice. You shouldn't insult your mother."

His anger flared, and he reached over and pulled down the lever; but unlike last time, he stopped almost immediately.

"Temper, temper!" I gasped, trying to breathe properly.

But I learned something – Ivan couldn't let the machine run on me for too long.

Good to know.

He glared and slammed the button on the wall outside the cell, sending the chains back into the wall.

"You must have a death wish," he snarled, before turning and walking away, leaving me alone in the dark.

* * *

It seemed like hours before I was able to get up. When I could finally stand, I started to move around the room, observing it the best I could in the dark light.

I moved slowly, still slightly weak. There were no windows, and the only exit seemed to be the door at the end of the hall.

I gritted my teeth.

There was no way in hell I was going to stay there.

I'm sure the cavalry would come eventually, but there was no way I was sitting pretty until then.

I walked over to the bars, searching from top to bottom for any sort of weak point. I realized that some of the bars seemed a bit weaker than the others, so I picked what I thought was the weakest and aimed my strength there, kicking at the bottom and starting to wear it away – I'd be able to slip through the bars if I could just get rid of one.

Even if it took me weeks, I would get out of there.

* * *

It did take me several weeks (I think) - enough that I would guess it was about a month - before I was able to move the bar, and slip between them.

I pulled the bar with all my might, pulling it straight out of the ceiling.

It wasn't exactly the ideal weapon (it was also a lot heavier than I would've liked) but I didn't exactly have magic at my disposal, and I'd be damned if I didn't use anything.

Carrying the bar, I made my way over to the door. I'm only visited once a day, and I had waited until after Ivan had already left.

The door was locked from the outside, that much was obvious.

From what I remember correctly about how to kick down a door (I used to spend a lot of time on tumblr, okay?) you should never use your shoulders, but instead kick at the handle.

Kicking I could do. My legs were definitely stronger than my arms were, though my whole body was a hell of a lot weaker than it's ever been, what with constantly being drained of magic and underfed.

I stretched out and then, suddenly, slammed my foot into the door.

Nothing.

I pulled back my leg and started again.

"Come on," I muttered. I looked at the pole in my hand, and then backed up all the way to my cell.

 _Please work please work please work._

I took a deep breath and began to run, aiming for the door. As I got closer, I put the bar to the floor and used that to add to my boost, sending my feet straight for the door handle.

Before I reached it, though, the door opened, and I went flying into the other hallway.

"What do we have here?" Ivan's voice asked, and even though my body ached, I got off the floor, spinning the bar and preparing myself for a fight.

He laughed at my stance. "You're going to try and fight me? You don't have magic!"

"I don't need magic to beat a dick like you!" I snarled.

Unsurprisingly, he reacted, and I dove to the side as he came at me, before I spun on my heel and used the bar to smack him in the stomach.

He coughed and jumped away, before readying his magic.

 _Fuck_.

With no magic, I couldn't fight long distance, and that was something Ivan had obviously figured out, too.

I dove forward, readying the bar so I could slam it into him. I was a bit slow, and two of his odd paper things came at me, slicing up my arms a bit before I managed to hit him in the sternum.

And then a heavy force hit me, and I went flying into one of the stone walls.

It was heavy enough that I couldn't move, and I knew who it was immediately.

"Brain," I hissed.

"What did you do that for?" Ivan complained.

Brain walked out of the shadows. "You were taking too long. In addition to that, you were losing to a twelve-year-old girl who couldn't use magic."

" _Excuse_ me, I am thirteen!" I said, glaring at him.

Brain looked at Ivan. "You nearly lost your power source. You're getting sloppy. And getting outsmarted by a child."

"Yeah, Ivan, what does that say about you?" I sassed.

His face darkened, and he threw a few dolls at me. They sliced the sides of my arms and legs, and I held back any sort of cry of pain, not wanting to give them any satisfaction.

"How are you going to get her back into the cell?" Brain asked Ivan.

"Well, you could either do what you did last time, or…" Ivan smirked evilly, and gathered his magic. "We could have some fun until she can't stand it."

Eventually, I couldn't hold back my screams any longer, and when I woke up, I was back in my cell.

It was more than that, though. The collar on my neck was chained to the wall – enough for me to still roam my cell, but not to leave it. My bed was also gone – I guess I lost any sort of 'benefits'.

They'd probably cut down my food, too, even though I only got around one meal a day.

Not that I'd really call it a meal.

That month was when things started changing. Ivan wasn't satisfied with only draining magic from me – it wasn't enough for him. He wanted to torture me himself. He would send his dolls at me, slicing me up – no doubt leaving a few scars from how deep some were.

I had the belief that someone was helping me heal during the night – not magic, unfortunately, but still First Aid, which is probably the only reason that I hadn't died from blood loss yet.

Sometimes though, those dolls didn't satisfy Ivan. He wanted to do it _himself_.

About once a week, he would connect the chains to my cuffs from outside, and pull me against the wall. Then he would enter the cell and have fun slowly slicing my body up, sometimes. Or, more often, he would string me up until I could barely stand and whip me repeatedly, and I, for once, regretted putting my guildmark on my back and using revealing shirts in order to show it off. Because of this, I got almost no protection from what was left of the shirt. Speaking of that, Ivan got really enthusiastic with the lashings after that, once he realized where my guildmark was.

But he made sure to never go too far, so I wouldn't die.

* * *

It was the fourth time in, (about a month since I had tried to escape) that I was finally able to enact my plan.

Ivan opened the cell for his weekly hands-on torture lesson, and I jumped at him, wrapping the chain attached to my neck around his neck, trying to strangle him.

He immediately started struggling to get air, and started powering up his magic. I kicked his arm, dispelling his magic circle. "I've. Fucking. Had It. With. Your. Stupid. Paper. Dolls!" I shouted at him, kicking him again in between each word.

"They're called…Shikigami…" he tried to hiss.

"I don't give a damn," I yelled, tightening the chain so he'd pass out before he could activate the spell.

Slowly, he sank to the ground, before collapsing, unconscious.

I breathed a sigh of relief, but didn't let up, just in case he was faking.

When I heard his breathing stop, I got off of him and searched him for his keys. On his key chain, I saw what was probably the key for what attached my neck cuff to the wall. Sure enough, it worked, and I quickly took it off, though it unfortunately only detached the chain. The collar was still on. Then I ran outside my cell, locking the door behind me so it was harder for Ivan to escape.

There were a lot of keys on the keyring, but there wasn't anything for the cuffs, so I still couldn't use magic. I headed to the door, unlocking it and leaving the cells.

Still, I had to be careful. This was the complete unknown, and I didn't even have a weapon this time around.

I only made it six steps before someone grabbed me by the hair.

What is it with evil dicks and grabbing my hair?

"Nice try," the voice said.

Brain.

"But you're not going anywhere," he continued, and ignored my struggling as he pulled me back to the dungeons.

I turned my head and sunk my teeth into his arms.

It caught him off guard enough that I was able to kick him between the legs, and then run.

" _Dark Gravity_!" he yelled. I went flying forward into the wall and then –

* * *

When I woke up, I was back in my cell, and my head felt sticky and heavier than usual.

The cell was different though. For one, chains ran from my wrists to the ceiling. Luckily, I was able to sit on the floor, though something told me that the chains could be pulled up, and I could be suspended by my wrists.

Oh, joy, they restrained me more.

Before, those would only come out when Ivan wanted to whip me.

At least the one connecting my collar to the wall was gone.

On the bright side, I could hear (though barely) Brain criticizing Ivan about several things. I believe that I distinctly heard the word 'pathetic'.

There was some more mutterings, and Ivan waltzed back into the cell, smiling sadistically. The chains on my wrists tightened, but I was still able to sit on the ground, they were just pulled into the air.

Which kinda hurt so I was going to get up soon.

His smile widened, and my stomach twisted nervously. Something bad was going to happen.

"You like to be naughty, don't you, Eleanor-chan?" Ivan said.

I gave him a smirk, ignoring my unease. "I like messing with creepy fuckers. Not my fault you fit the requirements."

He growled and reached around to grab something out of view. Ivan opened the door and walked inside, using one foot to hold down one of my legs.

"You won't be able to escape again," he smiled wickedly, and held up what he grabbed.

My stomach twisted at the sight of the hammer. Not a normal hammer, used for nails, but a sledgehammer, with flat ends.

I knew what was going to happen before he did it.

"No, please don't," I shrieked, struggling against the chains.

Too late. He swung down as if he were aiming for one of those carnival games that measure strength, and I let out an ear-piercing scream as it shattered the bone in my lower leg.

And then he moved onto the next one.

They had obviously waited for me to wake up in order to hurt me, to make up for everything else.

One thing was for sure though, I definitely wouldn't be walking out of here.


	80. Ivan, Part Two

**PLEASE READ: I will admit that my anxiety has been going into overdrive. I'm scared you guys aren't going to like where this is going, so you're going to leave. Please don't ditch this story. At least wait until Chapter 85 or so before you give up. Also, try to remember that this is a fix it fic which means EVERYTHING TURNS OUT ALRIGHT IN THE END. I do know what I'm doing.**

 **After they finish recovering from this arc (there will be a little more angst 'cause trauma + recovery) then we will be back to love and fluffles for the most part, okay?**

 **This is probably the worst it'll ever get, anyway.**

 **So y'all can calm down.**

 **And also some love and fluffles and angry = I hate you but in a good way because this story affects me so much = messages in the comments would be much appreciated, because my anxiety is acting up and my depression has been worse, lately.**

 **I also expect much screaming.**

 **Things need to get worse before they get better, after all.**

 **But first:**

 ***whispers* angst, angst, angst angst, angst angst, EVERYBODY!**

* * *

 **Chapter Eighty - Ivan, Part Two**

He liked to leave me hanging.

Ivan.

After a draining, sometimes he would leave me suspended by my wrists, hanging from the ceiling. It wasn't like how he used to whip me - my feet were still kinda on the ground when he did it before. Now, I was hanging a few feet off the floor.

After a few hours or so, he'd return, hurt me some more, and then finally let me collapse on the ground.

He especially seemed to like the collapsing part, especially since, after I've been hanging for a few hours and just been beaten, I can't exactly catch myself.

Which makes hitting the ground so much worse.

It doesn't help that my legs are useless, and constantly throbbing, and I need to angle myself awkwardly so I don't land on them and mess them up more - though pretty much everything I do with them hurts.

Which is another reason he likes to drop me like that. The first time, I wasn't able to right myself, and I landed on my broken legs.

I passed out from the pain.

After that, I woke up and they were at least wrapped up a bit, but they weren't in a splint or anything.

They aren't going to heal properly, which means that whenever I get out of here ( _if_ I get out of here), Porlyusica will have to break them again. Even if Phoenix was to do it, and help them heal; they'd still have to be re-broken so they could be set properly.

My meal was also cut down to every other day. Ivan would leave it by the front of the cell, and if I wanted to get it, I'd have to pull myself along the floor with my arms. Even if I so much as crawled the wrong way, my legs hurt. They bandages helped (and they were probably put there by whoever was helping me at night), but there wasn't much protection in them, as I said. In fact, they were barely wrapped up at all, which makes me think that whoever was doing this didn't know a lot of first aid.

Still, I was thankful for the small amount they did know.

I also have a feeling that someone has been mixing pain relief into my food, but I don't know who.

At least it means that I've had an ally since the beginning here; someone else who I should help escape.

I'd come back for them, even if I get out on my own. There's no way that I'd leave someone else to Ivan's sadistic tendencies, though I at least know that they're not hurt too badly – otherwise, they wouldn't be able to spend time cooking for me and giving me first aid.

* * *

As the fourth month (at least I think it was the fourth month) approached, my legs began to heal.

Not correctly. In fact, even looking at my legs for too long made me feel kinda sick, with how crooked they are.

But enough that in a few days, after waiting nearly two months since they'd been broken, I'd be able to walk. Maybe.

It'd be painful, and I'd have a horrible limp, but I could do it.

And so I waited.

Since I had tried to escape a second time, Brain had convinced Ivan to 'break' me.

Basically, it meant that he upped the torture.

But then he tried to go mental – mental torture.

It didn't work.

At least at first.

Probably because Ivan is a piece of shit, and I'm smarter than him.

He would try to describe things to me, so I'd start to wear down mentally, but it didn't really work because I didn't really care.

But then it changed.

Someone (Brain, probably, but maybe Hades), had given him a few suggestions, and then the mental torture started getting bad.

I wonder how he contacted them. Do they just have monthly Evil Dark Guild Master Meetings where they talk about things? Does he just complain about me all the time?

I wonder if Mard Geer shows up.

...Nah.

This is when he started with illusions.

I know that they were fake, but they looked _so_ real.

He left Laxus alone, oddly enough, but other Fairy Tail members were fair game.

Juvia and Cana were the most prominent, probably because they both attacked him the day he was excommunicated because he was going to attack me.

At first, it was just them dying, which was horrible enough.

And then he changed it. So when they were dying, they were blaming me, saying things like, "Why didn't you save me, Elle?" and "Onee-chan, you promised!"

At first, they said things like, "This is all your fault, Elle!" and that's one thing that got me to hold on to reality. Even if they did blame me, they wouldn't out-rightly say it like that, and that's the one thing that let me stay strong.

Still, though, watching that hurt, so I would always try and make him angry – since he got angry so easily, I could easily get him to resort to violence.

I would rather lie there in pain, than think about such things.

* * *

The next time Ivan entered the dungeons, he wasn't alone.

There was someone beside him, but I was unable to see because of the lack of light and the odd angle I was suspended at.

It definitely wasn't Brain though – too small.

For the first time, he had left me hanging overnight. My shoulders were killing me from the odd angle, and my wrists felt like they were going to break off.

"How did you sleep, Eleanor-chan?" he said cheerily.

If I never heard the name 'Eleanor-chan' again, it would be too soon.

"Probably worse than you did," I admitted. "After all, I have a conscious, and human decency. Since you don't have any of that, I'm sure you sleep well at night despite your constant torture."

He gritted his teeth, and I continued. "Then again, you might not sleep well at all, because you aren't _that_ good at torture, and you can't even break a thirteen-year-old girl. What does that say about you?"

His anger flared and he pulled the lever. My magic drained from my body, and I was unable to keep in the screams.

My body shook and glowed in the air, before he eventually turned the lever off.

I slumped back against my restraints, my wrist feeling even worse than before from my shaking.

"You think she'd learn by now," Ivan told the person next to him. "There's something called Operant Conditioning in Psychology, you know. What I'm doing is called Positive Reinforcement and by hurting her over and over again, she _should_ have started to break from this."

"Actually, it's called Positive Punishment," I coughed out, my voice sore from screaming. "You are _giving_ me something (the shock) because you want me to _stop_ a behavior. Reinforcement is when you want the behavior to continue, stupid."

He sneered at me. "What do you know about Psychology?"

"More than you, apparently," I shot back.

He glared and pulled the lever, and my screams rang through the air again.

In a few moments, he turned it off again, and I slumped back down against the restraints.

And then he flipped on one of the lights in my cell.

It was only one (he probably doesn't want to ruin the mood, dramatic piece of shit), but it still blinded me by its suddenness, and I couldn't cover my eyes from the way the arms were suspended. I tried to blink away the shadows and black spots that appeared in my line of vision.

"What do you think?" he asked the shadow behind him, and the person in shadow stepped up next to Ivan, stepping into the light where I could see him.

I started laughing when I saw him.

"What's so funny?" Ivan asked.

"You're trying to trick me with _Laxus_ of all people?" I laughed. "Please. It's not going to work!"

"What are you talking about?" Ivan asked.

"You've been continuously using Illusion Magic for the past few weeks," I couldn't stop laughing. "You're trying to trick me that…what, Laxus joined you? Please, you're not going to break me that way. Laxus would never join you!"

"Oh?" Ivan asked, smiling wickedly, and my unease returned. He grabbed Laxus's hair and moved his head around. "Seems real enough to me."

"Stop touching me," Laxus said flatly, batting away at Ivan's hand.

I snorted, ignoring him. "Then you're an illusion too. You're probably standing back, and watching all of this happen from beneath your illusion."

Ivan started to laugh. "Oh? What makes you say that?"

I glared at Ivan, staring directly in his eyes. "Laxus would never betray me, or Fairy Tail!"

Ivan smiled at me again, and I wanted to punch him in the face. "Oh? He just might; after all…he is _my son_."

For a second my faith flickered, and I remembered a particular scene from the anime, where Laxus was only a little older than he was now, yelling at Makarov and saying that he might leave Fairy Tail and join his father's guild.

But then I shook it off. This was _my_ Laxus; that wasn't going to happen this time around.

"Laxus-chan, why don't you explain to Eleanor-chan why you joined us," Ivan smirked evilly.

Laxus rolled his eyes and indulged his father, scoffing at me. "I joined because you finally left."

My heart stopped.

 _What_?

"Fairy Tail has turned into a joke! Collecting orphans, blowing shit up; that's not something I wanted to be a part of!"

And then he took a deep breath, collecting himself. "But I couldn't just up and leave…not with you there. You're close to my level, and if I did anything suspicious, it's likely you'd try to stop me, especially because you know the future. So I stayed! I stayed and played the little game with all of you, collecting what information I could."

He smiled maliciously, and I felt my heart breaking. "But now you're here! And I'm free! I don't need to stay with that trash any longer, I can be right where I need to be."

His eyes met mine, and I couldn't read them. "Here."

I looked down, away from him, the light casting my face in shadow.

It doesn't matter though; he was a dragon slayer.

He could still smell the tears I was trying to hide.

"Jeez, you should have joined a few months earlier," Ivan muttered. "You'd save me a lot of time, Laxus-chan."

Laxus snorted. "You're the one who wanted to hide out in the middle of nowhere. It wasn't exactly _easy_ to find you, you know."

"Who knew she'd be so easy to break?" Ivan muttered, before smiling and laughing. "You hear that, Eleanor-chan? All your talk about staying strong, and you crack just like that."

"Shut up!" I didn't even recognize my own voice. My head snapped up and my eyes pinned them in place, because there was still no proof - the reason I was in tears was because just the _thought_ of Laxus betraying me fucking _hurt_. But it still wasn't true. "There's no way _you're_ really Laxus. Laxus is my _best friend_! He would _never_ betray me. We promised each other! 'Side by side', so it doesn't matter _what_ you think! I refuse to think that this Laxus is real, because the _real_ Laxus would never join-"

I screamed as a large strike of electricity hit me, the pain radiating up and down my body before finally stopping.

I hung limply in the chains, and Laxus used his Lightning Body to pass through the bars, reforming right in front of me.

He stepped in front of me, gripping my chin and tilting my head so I could look him properly in the eyes.

Even hanging from the ceiling, I was only suspended a few inches above him. I met his eyes, and I knew, in that moment, that this _was_ Laxus standing before me.

The world froze, and my heart shattered.

"DON'T presume that you know me!" he roared, sending another shock through my body, causing me to cry out again. "You know NOTHING."

He turned back into lightning and exited the cell, and I was left hanging, frozen as I tried to comprehend what was going on.

"One more thing, actually, Laxus-chan," Ivan said, and Laxus looked up at him with an expressionless face. "You see, Eleanor-chan here is naughty, naughty! She likes to try and run away." He pulled out the same sledgehammer from before, and my heart sunk even further.

So much for trying to escape, soon.

"But fairies can't fly away if their wings are broken!" he said happily, handing Laxus the sledgehammer.

Then he turned to the wall and hit a button, and the chain holding me up slackened, enough so that I fell on the floor, so tired and sore I could barely move.

Or maybe it was the heartbreak.

It hurt, falling, but I wasn't that surprised. As I mentioned before; Ivan likes doing it.

He unlocked the door and wandered in, Laxus moving behind him, clutching the sledgehammer.

Was he going to make _Laxus_ do it?

He wouldn't. It was one thing to shock me, another thing to break my legs.

Ivan wandered closer to me, and I prepared myself.

It's hard to do it with my wrists cuffed together, but it's still possible.

I yanked my arms upwards, straight for his weakest point, and managed to hit it.

He squeaked and fell to the side, and I (since my legs were a _little_ healed, even though it would hurt) jumped Laxus, pinning him down and wrapping my hands around his neck, awkward as it felt with my wrists chained together.

"I still don't believe you," I shouted in his face. "There's no way you're really Laxus! Laxus would never betray Fairy Tail!"

But that first part was a lie. Because…there was no way this person could be anyone _other_ than Laxus.

His lifted his knee up between us and kicked my chest, slamming me off him and into the bars, which made a choked noise leave me.

The last time Ivan whipped me was three days ago, so it's not as bad as it would've been otherwise, but it still hurt.

"What did I say, Rigby?" he shouted, getting up, and somehow…calling me by my last name hurt more than anything else he had said or done so far. "DON'T PRESUME YOU KNOW ME."

 _Rigby._

It's a stupid name, I know. When I heard I was named about a song, I got a bit upset.

But I grew to like it. Yeah, it's silly, but it's _mine._ It's one reason I didn't change my name when I got a chance to start over.

But now, I hated it.

The way Laxus said it, full of loathing and hatred, made me freeze, and I felt my chest start to ache where my heart was, hurting more than any of the physical wounds I had.

Ivan grabbed me by the hair (again with the hair!) and picked me up, throwing me back against the wall. More than a few strands of hair stayed in his hand.

That's it, I'm cutting my hair when I get out of here.

 _If..._ if I get out of here.

He grabbed the chain attached to my connected cuffs and pulled it high into the air, yanking my wrists up and out of the way, before his foot squashed down on mine, and I bit my lip from the flare of pain down there.

"Well, Laxus-chan," Ivan said, slightly out of breath, and growling angrily. "Do it. Break her leg; we can't have that healing. She could escape."

Laxus nodded, inspecting my leg, before he pulled the sledgehammer back –

This is when the world stopped to me. My hyperactive mind saw a different future, one in which Laxus turned and used the sledgehammer to butt Ivan in the face, and take me away from this shit hole.

But that didn't happen.

Instead, his arms swung down and the sledgehammer slammed into my leg, shattering any healed bones and making my original injuries worse.

I couldn't hold in my screams as I saw white, and I didn't even notice that Ivan had already switched his foot to my other one before one of his Shikigami sliced my cheek.

"I want you conscious for this, Eleanor-chan," Ivan said. "So conscious you will be! Now, Laxus! Again!"

And the hammer came down once more.

* * *

 **...Still not apologizing.**

 **I've had this planned out from the beginning, and you guys tend to actually like those arcs more, (depending on the angst level). But dealing with Deliora and the Tower of Heaven and the Oracion Seis + this arc has been planned since before I started writing Ripples, back when I was still daydreaming.**

 **ALSO if you die or kill me you won't know what's going on.**


	81. Ivan, Part Three

**I love you guys all so much.**

 **Also, remember when I mentioned the '50-reviews a chapter'? Yeah, well, the previous got over fifty reviews, so, since I finished this early, I thought I'd give you all a little present.**

 **So I'll just leave this here... :D**

* * *

 **Chapter Eighty One – Ivan, Part Three**

THREE MONTHS AGO

"I'm going, and that's final," he said flatly.

"I can read souls!" Erik yelled. "I should go!"

The moment they had arrived at the guild was completely chaotic. After delivering the news, most of the kids freaked; for instance, Juvia losing control of the rain for the first time since she had finally calmed it. Then Laxus had a burst of rage and stormed out of the guild, looking for a girl he wouldn't find.

They were asked if they wanted to join Fairy Tail, and they all ended up doing it, being sworn in and ending up with a guildmark before even introducing themselves or their magic.

Though Erik and Macbeth would forever deny that the color of their guildmarks were the color of Elle's hair, rather than Erik's eyes and Macbeth's new shade of lipstick, since he was switching to a lighter version.

The first few minutes there were chaotic, and extremely overwhelming for Erik.

The guild was amazingly lively, and the sounds he heard in everyone's minds gave him hope.

He had been surrounded by so much desolation that he didn't think he'd be able to find people with good intentions – but this guild was full of them.

Even with all of the turmoil and fear they felt over Elle missing, they still had hope, and it was inspiring.

It made him happy to hear them all.

Of course, some people's minds were louder than others – it depended on their state of mind. Some people, like the ones named Juvia and Freed, were so distraught in their mind it was amazing they seemed so composed, even _with_ Juvia still in tears and causing the worst storm Magnolia had seen in years.

Makarov, the master of the guild, approached them, specifically him. "Erik, my boy, did Elle tell you anything before she got cut off?"

Erik nodded and swallowed. "A few things. For one, Master Hades had one of Cana's cards, and she said to get Freed to up everyone's security."

More than a few people tensed, and the man called Gildarts scooped up his daughter.

Erik tried his best to block him out.

The man's mind was generally a mess; full of odd thoughts, mostly focusing on his daughter and attractive women, though Fairy Tail and its guild members were thrown in there every once in a while, along with some spurts of wisdom.

Frankly, it gave Erik a headache.

"Anything else, my boy?" Makarov asked.

Erik hesitated. "Do you guys have a healer?"

"Are you hurt?" Makarov asked, his eyes widening.

"Elle said that if we told you, you'd probably have a heart attack," Macbeth said bluntly.

"Macbeth!" Erik hissed.

He shrugged. "What, it's true."

"Oh dear," Makarov said. "Then I suppose we should summon Porlyusica."

He turned to an indigo-haired man who was holding an indigo-haired baby girl. "Rex, can you please pick up Porlyusica?"

The man nodded and passed the baby to his wife, Maggie, who stood next to him.

Erik was really thankful for his mind-reading abilities, because there was no way he'd remember everyone's names otherwise.

Sure enough, Makarov reacted badly to the information the Hades was Precht, who was apparently his predecessor in Fairy Tail. Mavis, a ghost that Erik _couldn't_ read, (which is odd considering that it should still be her soul) also had trouble with this knowledge, and turned to her lover, the Dark Wizard Zeref, for comfort.

Yeah, that was a bit of a shocker. After what they went through at the Tower, they wanted nothing to do with Zeref, but Cana took out a Memory Card and showed them the memory of a time Zeref told everyone about his story and his creations.

It was hard for them to accept it (especially since the founder of their guild was with him romantically), but they did eventually accept it.

But Erik still had a problem with Mavis, and it wasn't that he couldn't hear her – he couldn't hear Elle or Zeref either.

It was that she wasn't letting him go.

Mavis shook her head. "The moment that Brain realizes that you're with Ivan, he'll take you back, just like before. Laxus is probably the best opportunity."

"But I want to help Elle!" Erik pleaded. "Come on, my Soul Reading Magic is _perfect_ for this."

"It is, but you're not. I'm sorry, Erik," she said, before turning to Laxus. "But _could_ you do it?"

He glared at her, gritting his teeth. "Of course I could do it. This is _Elle_ we're talking about here!"

 _Wow. He really loves her_ , Erik thought, listening to his thoughts.

"I'm asking you to go undercover," Mavis said flatly. "There's a chance that Ivan will try and test you to see if you're really on his side, and it'll _probably_ have to do with hurting Elle. You'll have to _actively_ hurt her."

Laxus's fists clenched, and he sparked dangerously.

"She'll forgive you," Zeref said.

Laxus's head shot up to glare at him. "What do _you_ know?"

"You're going undercover to stop whatever Ivan is doing," Zeref said quietly. "The world could possibly be at stake. Elle will forgive you if you have to hurt her along the way."

"Yeah, she'll still love you, Onii-sama!" Juvia shouted happily.

"Could you do it?" Mavis repeated.

Slowly, Laxus's fists unclenched. "Yeah, I can do it."

* * *

 _I deserve one of those acting award shits for this_ , Laxus thought to himself. _One of those Otters or Emmas or Grannys or whatever_.

He was back in his private suite at Ivan's…base (for lack of a better word) and he still felt as if he had spent hours on a train. His stomach was rolling, especially at the thought of Elle, and her bruised and battered body, and the look on her face.

He slammed his hand over his mouth, trying hard to keep the bile down.

If he threw up, there was a good chance Ivan could smell it.

Even in the privacy of his own room, Laxus wasn't entirely sure he could be himself – his father was a paranoid fucker, and it was likely he'd hide recording lacrimas all over the room if he could.

Which is why Laxus was currently taking a bath.

Even his father wasn't enough of a creep to keep recording lacrimas in the bathroom, so at least he had his privacy here. Well…enough of a creep to keep it in a boy's bathroom.

When it came to women though, Ivan was as much a creep as his own father was…

Sighing, Laxus took a deep breath and submerged himself underwater. Underneath, the water hollowed out sound, muffling all of his extra dragon senses.

This was officially the worst day of his life. Worse than anything that happened at the Tower of Heaven, or when they were training in the North and he had to shock her or Brain had hurt her.

There wasn't a strong enough word for how much Laxus loathed his father.

'Loathe' didn't even come close.

He threw his arm over his eyes, trying to stifle his tears. He didn't deserve to cry! Not after what he had done to Elle.

He had been prepared to hurt her; that was why he had shocked her, not once, but _twice_. But even that wasn't enough. Ivan had handed him the sledgehammer, and Laxus knew that he had to do it. He couldn't show weakness, either because of his fondness of Elle, _or_ simply because he didn't want to break someone's leg. Ivan was practically a bloodhound when it came to sniffing out weakness; he remembered that much from his childhood.

Laxus wanted to throw Mavis's entire plan to the wind; to use that sledgehammer on Ivan's face rather than Elle's legs.

He didn't want to continue this 'operation'. He wanted to punch his father in the face, grab Elle, go home, and never let her go.

But he had to.

The look in her eyes as he left…he didn't think he ever saw someone look so defeated.

Would she be able to recover from this? Would he ever get his Elle back?...

Well, the answer to that was no. Laxus was sure of one thing; Elle was likely to cut him out of her life once she returned to the guild.

She'd never be _his_ Elle again. Zeref was wrong about that.

But as long as she returned to the same person as before, he'd be alright with that.

Even if he had to leave the guild himself so she could breathe easily again.

* * *

I didn't move for days.

There was no point.

It was real. _Laxus_ was real.

It was literally the worst thing I could imagine.

 _Laxus…_

The worst part about betrayal…is that it doesn't come from your enemies.

"I don't get it. What's the problem?" Ivan asked.

"The bitch isn't eating anything," Laxus's voice echoed throughout the dungeons. "That plate is from four days ago. She doesn't react to anything, either. Doesn't even scream."

Ivan snorted. "Then you're not trying hard enough."

He pulled down the lever and the machine started draining my magic, but I didn't scream now.

There was no point.

Nothing mattered anymore.

 _What about the dragon slayers?_ A voice in my head went. After all, I had taken care of the Oracion Seis, so now they were all that were left.

 _They'll be fine_ , I told myself back. _They have Lax…us…_

Oh. That's right.

Oh well.

I was jerked out of my mind by a cranking noise, and the chain linked to the cuffs pulled taut, lifting me in the air.

"See?" Laxus scoffed. "Nothing."

Ivan pulled down the lever again, and I could feel it draining my magic.

I didn't care.

It didn't matter.

Ivan snarled and unlocked the cell door, pulling out a whip, which he pulled back and snapped at me.

I didn't do anything.

Nothing mattered anymore.

Ivan looked at me for a long few seconds before he spun on his heel and walked out into the dungeon. Pushing another button, there was a rumbling noise, and I saw him put the whip on the wall…but what would support it?

Out of seemingly nowhere, he pulled another whip off the wall.

Maybe it was some sort of secret wall you could hang weapons on? It seemed like I was right, because he hit a button again and I heard the same rumbling noise; maybe they were closing the wall.

Laxus moved out of the way and Ivan stormed into the room, snapping the whip.

My eyes widened a bit when I saw it. It was different from the previous one, which was more like Lucy's (like Indie's). This one has little spikes on it, as if it was made with a rose bush.

This would probably hurt even more.

But I didn't care.

It didn't matter.

He slapped it against my back (though I was still wearing the same clothes I've worn for the past few months), and it dug into it.

Each lash hurt, but other than flinching, I did nothing.

There was no point in screaming, or fighting or yelling. Or talking back.

I soon lost count of the amount of times he cracked the whip as everything started going dark, but then the rhythm broke, pulling me back to reality.

"What are you doing, Laxus?" Ivan growled.

 _What_? My heart started getting lighter, and I blinked a few times until my vision cleared and I saw Laxus holding Ivan's wrist in his hand, stopping the whip.

"Do you still need her?" Laxus asked, uncaringly.

"What do you mean?" Ivan asked.

"I mean, do you still need her? If you continue at the rate you're going, you'll end up killing her soon. Even now, she'll need first aid if you want her to last the night. So…do you still need her?"

My heart broke all over again.

Ivan scowled and shook off Laxus's arm. "Fine. Yeah, I still need her. Tell Mari and she'll come fix her up."

Laxus shrugged. "Alright."

It didn't matter. None of this mattered. I was all-

* * *

When I woke up again, I was tied down to a bed (able to lie down in one for the first time in months), and the side of my head throbbed, as if someone had hit it.

Probably.

My face was half on the pillow, my neck twisted so I could still breathe. Testing my restraints, I could feel each one of the magical restraints attached to the edge of the bed.

I tried moving, and a sharp gasp escaped my mouth as the nerves on my back cried out.

"Geez, Rigby, try not to move so much. You'll just make it worse."

Laxus's familiar voice was what made it worse.

Each day, without fail, he would enter the room, turn on the machine for…who knows how long, and then leave.

Ivan was no longer torturing me – until today, that is.

Something told me he was too busy with whatever his 'end of the world' plot was, but I didn't really care about that any more.

I didn't care about anything anymore.

Maybe it'd just be better to drift off into a deep sleep…

Dream of the older days…

* * *

Laxus groaned in frustration as Elle fell asleep.

He didn't want to talk to her, which would probably happen if she was awake, but the fact that she was asleep again just emphasized how badly she was hurt.

How long would he have to stay there? He'd barely been there a week, but he didn't know if he'd last there any longer.

He didn't know if he'd be able to keep hurting her.

Ugh, he was such a hypocrite.

But he couldn't do anything until he got the signal, he knew that.

It didn't mean he had to like it, though.

His fists tightened, and he moved out of the way as Mari rushed in, holding a first aid kit.

She was probably in her early thirties, and spent her time cooking meals, cleaning, and fixing up Elle.

Other than him, Ivan, and Elle, she was the only other person in the building - though Brain apparently tends to visit (even though Laxus had yet to see him).

Mari was a blonde woman, who was so scared of Ivan she jumped at small noises. But Laxus had noticed that she was wearing the same cuffs that Elle was, so she had magic.

But even without Ivan anywhere in the room, Mari fumbled with the first aid, and had shaking hands.

"I'll do it," Laxus snapped, ripping the kit out of her hands.

She flinched and backed away, and Laxus had to bite his lip so he didn't look apologetic.

How he hated it here.

Laxus pulled off Elle's shirt, which was already in tatters, and tried not to look as sick as he felt, shaking off an earlier conversation he had had with Ivan.

 _"How are your hormones?" Ivan asked suddenly._

 _Laxus turned to his father. "What?" he asked flatly._

 _"Your hormones," Ivan repeated. "Are you into girls yet?"_

 _Laxus stared at his father blankly. "Why?"_

 _"Elle is almost done charging the machine," Ivan commented. "And I'm trying to think about what we're going to do with her when we're done."_

 _His stomach started rolling. He really didn't want this to go where he thought it was._

 _"First, I thought we should just kill her," Ivan continued. "But I want her to suffer more. So I was thinking of giving her to you."_

 _It took everything Laxus had to stop himself from exploding or trying to kill Ivan right there and then._

To even suggest-

 _"And that way we can continue to torture her," Ivan said, continuing, "and you also get a slave! It's great."_

Don't kill him don't kill him don't kill him don't kill him, _Laxus chanted in his mind._

 _"What do you think?" Ivan asked._

 _Laxus tried to remain calm. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. She's kinda lifeless right now, you know?"_

 _Ivan frowned. "Yes, you're right Laxus-chan. It was more fun when she was more defiant. I'm not really one for lifeless dolls, and she's a few years too young for me anyway, so you should take her."_

 _His stomach rolled, and Laxus bit his tongue until it bled so he wouldn't attack. He could only reassure himself that Ivan took all of the craziness in their family line, so Laxus should be fine._

 _"I told you," Laxus repeated in a bored tone. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."_

 _And I'll kill you before you touch her like that._

He shook off that memory, returning to the present. Elle was hurt, and he could actually get away with fixing her injuries. Opening the first aid kit, he started cleaning her back from the whip marks, trying not to wince upon looking at it.

Her Fairy Tail mark had several cuts running through it, and he knows that they aren't going to heal properly; there would be scars there.

This was all his fault.

Someday, he would strike Ivan for every scar left on Elle's body.

* * *

He was kind.

Mari looked at Laxus.

He tried to be harsh, like his father; barking orders, being aggressive.

But he wasn't.

The most he showed was coldness; he was closed off, and didn't care about a lot of things.

But now, watching him treat Elle, she knew that her heart was right, and it brought light into it.

Maybe there was hope.

She had long since accepted that she would never get away from Ivan, and that was alright. But she was glad that Elle would be able to leave, and that Laxus and her would be happy.

Despite everything Laxus did, Mari could see that he cared for her. Ivan couldn't; he doesn't know enough about love to do it.

But Mari could, and it made her happy.

It was more than that, too; Laxus was a dragon slayer, so he should have been able to smell the painkillers she was mixing into Elle's food.

But he said nothing, and Mari was so _happy._

Not only would Laxus end up getting Elle out of there, but it was more than that.

He was a good person.

Her _son_ was _kind_ , and that was more than she could ever hope for.


	82. Ivan, Part Four

**Chapter Eighty Two - Ivan, Part Four**

"Laxus-chan, I thought I told you to get Mari-chan to heal her," Ivan complained.

"Mari- _chan_ ," Laxus sneered. "Was shaking too much to do it properly. Sorry that I wanted the plan to go well; next time I'll let her die."

Ivan sighed. " _Fine_. What would I do without you, Laxus-chan?"

"Lose," Laxus muttered, walking away.

 _And you're going to lose anyway_ , he thought, leaving the room.

He could only stand so much of his father at a time.

* * *

"Eleanor-chan, I see you're still the same," Ivan said cheerfully. I didn't bother glaring from my place on the floor. There was no point.

He frowned at my lack of response. "Don't you want to know what my evil plan is? It's finally all coming together!"

…did I? Did I even care, anymore?

It didn't seem to matter, since he decided to go right on explaining it.

I can understand why he does it; all crazy psychopaths eventually end up doing it because they like to brag – they want others to appreciate their genius, and in order for that to happen, someone else had to understand the entire plan.

Some twenty minutes later, he finished telling his story (after getting side-tracked several times, because he apparently has the attention span of a stick of wood). "Do you understand now, Eleanor-chan?"

I didn't say anything.

"Well?"

"I think…that you really are…a bastard," I croaked, finally looking up and piercing him with my eyes. "And I hope…Master never has to find out…the full extent of your depravity. All of the heinous crimes you committed. Of your lack of humanity."

My eyes finally met him, and I glared at him, for ruining what I had with Laxus…even if it was all a lie up until now.

I think I still would've preferred that it continued.

"I think you're the type of scum I'd be fine with killing," I finished, narrowing my eyes at him.

He laughed at that, roaring with laughter. "Eleanor-chan, doesn't that make you as bad as me?"

"No," I said. "Because I don't take enjoyment in it. And I'm not a sick _fuck_."

He growled and reached through the bars, grabbing the chain that lead to my wrist and yanking it forward.

I was dragged towards the bars, and I bit my lip to stop from crying out as my legs scraped up against the floor. As soon as I was within reach, Ivan grabbed my arms and slammed me up to the bars, banging my head against it.

Spots filled my vision, and I could barely see, and it took me a minute to realize that Ivan was shaking me.

"Listen up, you little bitch," he hissed into my face. "I don't know who the hell _you think you are-_ "

"Someone better than you!" I hissed back, biting his arm.

"Bitch!" he yelled, shaking me off, before he sent a wave of his shikigami at me.

Two sliced down the sides of each arm before a hand grabbed his arm.

"Laxus!"

"What did I say," he growled. "You know she needs to recover for the ceremony. How the hell do you expect to take over the world if you're being an _idiot?"_

"I was just having a little fun, Laxus-chan," Ivan grumbled.

Laxus sighed. "Ugh, it's _embarrassing_ being related to someone who's so incompetent."

Ivan pouted. "Should I get Mari-chan?"

"No, I'll do it. That woman isn't qualified for first aid."

Laxus turned and went to the wall on the side, hitting buttons to open it and pulling out bandages.

"I'll leave you to it then, Laxus-chan," Ivan waved, before walking out the door.

Laxus approached the cell, opening the door and approaching me, before squatting on the floor next to me.

"Give me your arm," he commanded, and I thrust my arms (still chained together) out towards him before looking away.

His hands took mine, and they were gentle.

My heart felt like it was squeezing out of my chest.

His hands are the same.

The same as they were before, when he would hug me, or we would lay together at night up in the North. Or when he would patch me up after I got hurt. If it was scrapes from training, or after a fight, or even rubbing bruise paste on me after the incident with Deliora...

I can't believe I never asked Corvus about that.

I wonder if I'd ever get the chance.

Laxus ripped open one of the antiseptics and ran it down my arm. It stung, but after the usual things I got, I barely felt it.

After wiping it down, he took some gauze and bandaged the large cuts on the sides of my arms, closing them tightly – but still gently.

"Anything else I should know about?" he asked, his voice cold, the exact opposite from the ghost of kindness in his hands.

I shook my head, and he got up, packing up the first aid kit and closing the cell door behind him. He returned the kit to the wall and sealed it up, before leaving the dungeons altogether.

The slam echoed across the walls, and I curled up on my side, my hands clutching at my chest, which still ached.

 _Laxus…_

* * *

I stopped crying a few hours later, and finally started thinking clearly, after losing myself in my memories.

 _"I know…and it's the most amazing feeling. Not being alone."_

 _Laxus leaned in and looked me in the eyes. "Listen, we'll stay by each other sides, alright? So you don't know how to do some things, so what? You can learn. And I'll be here to help you, we all will. You won't be alone again. Neither of us will be."_

 _"You promise?" I sniffled. "You'll always be by my side?"_

 _He smiled. "If you promise to stay by mine."_

 _I nodded, and smiled, though my eyes were once again full of tears – but they were happy tears. "Alright then, it's decided. Side by side."_

 _Laxus nodded. "Side by side. Now that you've got me, you're not getting rid of me."_

Laxus had promised so many things to me.

 _How can he be bad? Even in the original series, he never actually reached a point…_

But that was the thing…

And I was brought back to what Ivan had said earlier that day.

 _"You see, Eleanor-chan, I needed someone of the five bloodlines in order to harvest the magic of the stars. But Brain wouldn't give up_ his _kid because she was too weak, so we had to find a new one. Honestly, the best fit would probably be the Heartfilia girl. Her magic is at a purer state, and she's also a lot stronger on a pure magical level, because she needs deeper magical reserves. Still, though…I'm glad Brain and Hades brought you to me. I much prefer it this way, even if it does take longer to harvest your magic. It just means I get to torture you longer, too."_

 _I felt a flash of anger when I heard he was thinking of targeting Lucy, but it eventually disappeared as I realized she was safe._

 _"Of course, I could've always used my son," Ivan muttered._

 _And for the first time since Laxus showed up, I spoke. "I thought...you needed to harvest magic...of the stars? Laxus...is a lightning mage."_

 _"I'm not talking about Laxus-chan, Eleanor-chan!" Ivan said, rolling his eyes. "I'm talking about the other one."_

 _I stopped at that._ What?

 _"You have another kid? Who is it?" I demanded._

 _But I already knew._

 _After all…a male of the five bloodlines…only one person fit that bill._

 _"But Jellal-chan is still too weak," Ivan said, sighing. "Which is the same reason why Brain-chan didn't let me use his own girl."_

Jellal.

Ivan had openly admitted to raping his mother, which is what led to me calling him sick.

I probably should have seen it coming. In Edolas, Mystogan was related to Makarov, and it makes sense for them to be related here, too. After all, the Strauss Siblings were related in both universes.

In the first timeline, both Jellal and Laxus had had their dark spots, but they had pure hearts – they came back to the light in the end.

I thought back to earlier – as Laxus bandaged my arms, with tenderness and gentleness.

I was right, and I was a fool for falling for it.

 _I'm sorry, Laxus. I should've had faith in you_.

In the original series, no one got hurt when Fairy Law was cast because Laxus still cared. After everything we'd been through, all of our time together, he _couldn't_ do that this time around.

 _But if I'm right…if my first assumption is correct…why is he here? Why does he keep hurting me?_

Laxus had Fairy Tail behind him, and Fairy Tail had Mavis.

The Fairy Tactician.

And even she admitted that sometimes she had trouble remembering that the people she was directing were…well…people.

Ivan was obviously up to something suspicious; he'd all but admitted it when he taunted me, though he didn't _really_ reveal his plan.

Man, Ivan was a shit villain. He couldn't even fuck up villainy right.

So if we needed more information…and Laxus had to go undercover…

My heart settled down.

Going over everything that happened, it still _hurt._ And I didn't know if our relationship would ever be the same. My heart ached about it, and already wanted this to be over.

But Laxus was still Laxus, and that was okay.

Because I was still in love with him, and I'd rather believe this than anything else.

I could withstand everything, as long as it was over soon.

* * *

I'm not quite sure how much time passed over the next few…sessions.

Laxus would do the simple draining every day, looking as if he had no care in the world.

I didn't dare say a thing. I have no doubt that (with the amount of times I tried to escape) Ivan had installed recording lacrimas, and I didn't know if they would pick up anything, if I said something, even if I barely breathed it for Laxus's high level of hearing.

So I kept quiet.

* * *

A few days after my revelation, I had a visitor.

"Hades," I said, before sarcastically commenting. "How _nice_ of you to visit me."

"Ivan said that he'd broken you," Hades commented.

"Ivan is an idiot," I said, shrugging, which I could actually do because I was on the ground this time, not suspended by my wrists. "And I'm a Fairy Tail Wizard. We don't give up easily." I smirked at him. "You'd know a lot about that, wouldn't you?"

He moved forward and gripped the bars. "You insolent little girl. You have no idea what you're talking about."

"Don't I?" I hissed back. "What would Mavis say if she saw you now?"

He reeled back a bit, as if he'd been struck, before he moved forward again. "You know _nothing_."

"Don't I?" I hissed. "Mavis spends time with all of us, we both know her _real_ state. Sure, she isn't there physically, but she's there with all of us in _spirit_."

Hades scoffed, looking away. "Zeref is more important."

"Zeref is also with us," I hissed. "You've met him before – he was the one who taught you magic in the first place. And you want him to leave his peaceful state and go insane?"

I glared at him. "He's _happy_ now. He's with Mavis, and the two of them are happy together."

He lifted his hand and shot one of his bullets at me. It slammed in my shoulder, and I wasn't able to hold back the cry from it. It wasn't fire – if it was it wouldn't hurt so much, because of Phoenix's gift. It was closer to Sting's magic – like a type of laser.

He turned and began to walk away. "The Grand Magic World will come, no matter how many I have to sacrifice."

"You been beside her for years," I hissed. "She's the reason you know magic! How can you betray Mavis like this?"

"I watched over the Lumen Histoire because it was my duty as guild master, and because it was an unlimited power source," Hades shot back. _"Mavis_ means nothing to me."

And then he turned and walked away.

Damn.

He mentioned the Lumen Histoire, and I tried to avoid it because I didn't know how much Ivan knew about it.

Hopefully he wouldn't know anything, and he would just think that the two of us were talking about two different things.

 _Damn you, Hades._

 _Damn you, Mashima_

But I tried to save him. For Mavis's sake.

He's just too far gone.

* * *

 _So Elle knows about the Lumen Histoire?_ Ivan thought, leaning back from where he was observing through a lacrima.

That was interesting.

He'd up the torture tomorrow – see what he could find.

* * *

 **Next chapter is the last one of the Ivan arc.**


	83. Ivan, Part Five

**Chapter Eighty Three -** **Ivan, Part Five**

Thirteen days, four hours, and fourteen minutes after his arrival – the day _after_ Elle got visited by the same dick who hit her with an Amaterasu Formula, and he was specifically _confined_ to his room - Laxus finally got the signal.

He had, over that period of time, collected all of the data he needed, and sent what was needed back to Fairy Tail.

The arrival of the signal meant that Gildarts had destroyed the machine, which was unfortunately several miles away. Elle's stored magic would be transferred into lacrimas and transported there.

Unfortunately, he didn't really _need_ a signal, because Ivan was somehow alerted…in the middle of torturing Elle, even though he had left her alone for the past few days.

"What are you doing?" Laxus had asked him.

"I need information," Ivan said, cracking the whip he held as he approached Elle's cell.

"What about the ceremony?" Laxus asked, feigning uninterest.

"This is more important," Ivan smirked, a greedy look in his eyes. "The ceremony can be pushed back."

But after two lashes - before the idiot had even asked Elle a question - Laxus got the signal, the same time that Ivan did.

"What?" he gasped, dropping the whip. "What the hell is going on?"

" _Dragon Slayer Secret Art; Roaring Thunder: ZEUS'S FURY_!"

Through the very ceiling, a strike came down from the sky and fried Ivan, shocking him immensely. It was the strongest attack out of his Secret Arts that Laxus could do on an individual.

Ivan's body arched as he screamed, and Laxus, feeling more than a little vindictive, let this spell last a lot longer than he'd let the other one run back at the Tower. Ivan was a wizard; that meant, as a rule, that he was stronger than normal humans, so he could stand the spell a lot longer, anyway.

Ignoring the screaming, he turned to look at Elle, who was still hanging suspended. "Elle…God, Elle, I'm so sorry!"

He turned to the side of the cell and hit the button to lower her onto the floor, before he rushed into the room to cradle her, ignoring the now unconscious body of his father.

"Elle! I'm so…so sorry!" he was crying now, holding her close, but there wasn't any real reaction from her. "Please Elle, say something! I know that you probably hate me, but please! I need you to talk! You need to be okay!"

Slowly, her mouth opened, and she croaked out. "I'm sorry."

* * *

Laxus froze, and I looked up to meet his eyes.

"Sorry!?" he practically screamed, tears running down his face. "What...What are you sorry for? I hurt you! I…God, I'm a monster!"

 _I'm sorry for not having faith in you._

 _I'm sorry for believing you betrayed me._

 _I'm sorry for being unable to forgive you._

He slumped, still crying, and my arms wound around him, shushing him and running a hand through his hair. "It's okay, Laxus. It's going to be okay."

This was Fairy Tail. Of course it would.

" _I'm_ the one who should be comforting you," he said, starting to sob. "God, I'm so _so_ sorry!"

"No, I'm sorry," I said quietly.

"You have nothing to be sorry for!" Laxus yelled.

"I didn't have faith in you," I whispered. "After everything that happened…I should have trusted you. But I didn't! Instead, I thought you betrayed me! I didn't realize you were a double agent until a few days ago…"

He began to laugh; a long, drawn out, harsh laugh. "You have _nothing_ to be sorry for, Elle. You still figured it out, but I _hurt_ you. _Actively_."

"Laxus, I get it..." I said. "It's was probably Mavis's idea, right? Look, it'll be hard to move past this, but we should be able to do it."

His crying got worse, and he pulled me closer into his embrace. "Damn it Elle, I'm so _so_ sorry..."

 _I'm sorry, too._

"Laxus, we're _Fairy Tail_. It might be hard to get through this, but we will eventually. As long as we're together."

The thing is, I always thought that I'd be able to forgive people. It was one of the things I'd admired so much about Lucy; how easily she forgave others and brought them into her heart. And I always thought that, if someone was truly remorseful, I would be able to forgive them.

But this was different. In those types of hypothetical situations, it was always them committing a crime without caring, and then regretting it and never doing it again.

But in Laxus's case, he regretted it and felt remorse and he _did it anyway_ , and if he needed to, he _might_ do it again.

And that's what hurt the most.

At least, by the way that he quite clearly took out Ivan, he'd probably never be able to go undercover again.

Laxus had turned to Ivan after wiping away his tears, and started ruffling through the unconscious man's pockets. "I can't find any keys for those cuffs…"

"They don't take keys," I said, holding out my wrists. "Ivan told me a few days ago, when he was boasting his evil plan. Kinda. You know he's a fucking idiot, right? I hope you didn't catch any of it. Anyway you need to strike the symbol with magic, and it will unlock it. Annoying, but also made so someone can't escape easily by themselves."

Laxus lifted a finger and brought it to my wrists, hitting each shackle with a bolt of lightning. They unlocked and fell to the floor, and he grasped my hands gently, looking at the way my wrists had been rubbed raw.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered.

I pulled one of my hands out of his grasp and reached behind his head, pulling his forehead to mine and running my hands through his hair. "We'll get past this, Laxus."

But the words ' _I forgive you_ ' had noticeably gone unsaid.

After a few deep breaths, Laxus pulled back and continued, lifting a finger and shocking the collar at my neck and on my ankles.

I grabbed them and began to put them on Ivan, and Laxus started to laugh a bit.

I shrugged. "I'm sure Brain will show up eventually and rescue him, but Ivan won't be able to do it himself."

Laxus laughed, and he pulled me up onto his back, like before; except this time, I couldn't actually walk.

"Let's get out of here, Elle," he said. "And we need to take someone with us."

"Let me guess, the cook?" I asked, trying not to let him know that I felt slightly uncomfortable like this - though it was mostly because I was pretty defenseless, and not because of all the ways Laxus could hurt me like this.

At least that's what I tried to tell myself.

He looked a bit surprised, but nodded. "How did you know?"

"I figured that if they were giving me painkillers, they were at least a little on my side," I admitted.

He nodded and walked out of the room, stopping to kick Ivan again, taking his keys and locking him in the cell. As he walked, he pulled out a card and pressed the second signal on it.

"What's that mean?" I asked him.

"That one tells them that we'll be a bit delayed, which means that they'll have Porlyusica waiting for us, rather than have us go out into the middle of the forest," Laxus said, leaving the dungeons and locking Ivan in there, too.

He looked back a little longingly, surprisingly.

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

"I promised myself that I'd hurt him – carve a scar into his skin for every one on yours, but…"

I hugged him the best I could from atop his back. "Thank you, Laxus, but we should get going. I'm sure you'll get the chance eventually."

"Maybe," he muttered. "The Rune Knights should be on their way soon, so it depends..."

He looked back and forth several times before he nodded, seeming to make up his mind.

He walked out of the dungeons, with me on his back, before putting me down on the floor.

"Laxus, what are you doing?" I asked him.

"Do you trust me?" he asked, and then I saw a flash of fear on his face. Before, it's something that he didn't need to worry about the answer, but things had changed now.

"...I don't know," I said, hesitant, and felt like apologizing again.

This was Fairy Tail, which was all about forgiveness. But I just couldn't seem to say the words right now.

"I...please, just stay here," he said, before whirling around and letting the door to the dungeons slam shut behind him.

" _Where_ am I supposed to _go_?" I muttered, but I didn't move.

And besides, despite what happened to my legs, I could always drag myself across the floor. That's what I had done before, when I had to get food.

It was quiet in the hallway, and I realized that the dungeons were sound-proofed. I couldn't help but wonder what Laxus was up to. There's no way that he was _actually_ going to scar Ivan for each of mine. We wouldn't have time, and by the time the Rune Knights get here, he could get caught and get in trouble.

A few minutes later, the door opened, and I could hear some agonized sobbing echo down the dungeons until the door shut again.

Laxus looked down at me.

"You done?" I asked him.

He nodded and knelt down, in order to put me on his back again. "I didn't get to hurt him as much as I wanted, but I'm satisfied, and it should all be alright for now."

"And he's still alive?" I asked as he started walking down the halls.

"Yes."

"You going to tell me what you did?" I asked.

"No."

"Tsundere."

"Not a tsundere."

We eventually entered a kitchen and Laxus addressed the woman standing there. "Mari, we're leaving."

The blonde woman jumped, dropping the tray she was holding. "W – What?"

"Come on, we're leaving," Laxus said. "Elle and I are ditching this place, and returning to our guild. Come with us."

"I – I," she stammered, looking down at her wrists.

Laxus followed her gaze and shot a bolt of lightning at the cuffs, unlocking them.

She gasped, looking down at her wrists, who were rubbed even rawer than mine were. While mine might heal, hers would almost undoubtedly scar.

"Come with us," I croaked, and Laxus went to the fridge and pulled out some water for me. I tried to stop myself from gulping down greedily, knowing that I might throw up if I drank too much on an empty stomach and after not drinking for so long.

Mari remained quiet, contemplating, before she opened her mouth and paused, then closed it and nodded. "I – I need to get some things…"

Laxus nodded. "Sure, lead the way."

We followed her to her room, where she quickly packed some things, (including some medical bandages for our wrists) and threw the bag over her shoulder. "I – I'm good, now."

Laxus nodded and led the way out of the stronghold, starting to walk through the forest. "Luckily, we're not too far from Magnolia, so we should be able to get there by the end of the day."

We started walking, Mari mostly watching us in silence. We had made it a decent way before I realized I was starting to slip.

"Laxus, I'm slipping," I told him.

He nodded and moved to pull me up more, accidentally grabbing a bit too low on my leg. I sucked in a harsh breath, and tried to calm down the flash of fear I felt.

 _It's just an accident it's just an accident. Laxus would never hurt me on purpose-_

No.

 _Laxus wouldn't hurt me unless it was necessary._

And the thought that it _had_ been necessary made my heart ache.

"Elle!" he sounded horrified. "I'm…so _sorry_."

"Maybe you should carry me differently," I suggested, biting my lip to stop from crying out too much. It would hurt Laxus too much.

My chest already ached, and he shouldn't have to feel the same.

And yet, at the same time, I wanted him to feel the same way I did.

So I shut off my conflicting emotions and just stayed silent.

Laxus shifted me around to his front, putting an arm around my back and another under my knees, and I wound my arms around his neck and curled into his chest.

But there was something about it...and then everything sorta clicked into place.

I still hadn't forgiven him...but something about being in his arms made me relax, even though I _was_ still afraid.

I know that that isn't how it's supposed to work. Psychology wise, that is. That I shouldn't be able to relax around Laxus for a long, long time.

Yet it was easy.

I didn't know what it was, and I could only hope that I would one day find out what it was.

For now, I chalked it up to 'Magic', and fell asleep in the safety of his arms.

* * *

 **You will eventually learn what is going on, I promise there's reasoning behind it. You'll also find out what Laxus did to Ivan eventually. Next chapter should be up by late Saturday at the latest. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. :)**


	84. Mari

**So I was bored and watching all of the crazy bonus episodes in between the Eclipse arc and the Village of the Sun (you know, Night of the Walking Men (with a bunch of Ichiyas) and a few others), and it turns out that in Episode 222 (the superhero one), Macao actually mentions that Enno _is_ his ex-wife. Like...a lot.**

 **I am happy, because this also means that she's still alive (he always talks about getting back together with her, after all).**

* * *

 **Chapter Eighty Four - Mari**

"D - do you love her?" a voice stammered.

Laxus looked at the blonde woman walking beside him. He was starting to near six foot, and he was already taller than her. "Huh?"

"Elle. Do…do you love her?" Mari asked.

Laxus looked away, focusing on the road ahead. "She's my best friend."

"That didn't answer the question," Mari murmured.

"You're suddenly a lot more talkative," Laxus said, looking at her.

She looked down at her wrists, which she had wrapped up while walking. "I'm not going back there. I guess…it's finally starting to sink in." She looked back up, at the sky. "It will probably take me a long while to…recover completely…but right now, he's gone, and I can feel my magic again. Though, it's very weak…"

"How long were you Ivan's prisoner?" Laxus asked.

"Almost fifteen years," she whispered.

Laxus stopped walking, staring at her. "Holy shit, that's impressive."

"What do you mean?" she whispered.

Laxus snorted. "You're badass, lady. To survive that long with that monster…yeah. Definitely. And…we'll if you went so long without using magic, your magical container probably started to shrink. It's technically a muscle."

She looked at him, then nodded. "That makes sense."

"You should join Fairy Tail," Laxus said. "You'd be a good addition."

"I can't do that," she said.

"Why not?" he asked, slightly irritated. For some reason, he didn't want her to leave, and he wasn't sure what it was.

"You technically can't join something you're already a part of…" she murmured.

Laxus stared at her in surprise. "Where's your mark?"

She pulled up her skirt, showing the dark gray mark on her thigh. "Ivan always wanted it covered, since I wouldn't erase it myself."

"What type of magic do you use?" Laxus asked, curious.

"Iron-Maker Magic," she responded. "I'm a dynamic type. Which means-"

"That you can make animated creatures," Laxus said, nodding. "We have a static Iron-Maker Mage; Maggie, in case you know her, and we've also had four Ice Make Mages join. Only one of them is dynamic, though."

Mari smiled. "It sounds wonderful." She looked back at Laxus. "Maggie was like an older sister to me. I haven't seen her in years…"

"She's recently had a child with a man named Rex," Laxus said. "He's a-"

"Speed Mage," Mari muttered. "Yes, I know him. I'm glad she found her happiness."

"What about you?" he asked her.

She looked away sadly. "I thought I found that happiness with Ivan, many many years ago. But I quickly learned that what I had wasn't what I had been looking for…and by then it was too late."

Laxus looked at her, feeling a bit sad. "Maybe one day soon, you'll find it."

"Maybe…" she whispered, longingly, before her gaze was drawn back to the two of them.

"That's a princess hold," Mari said, a bit teasingly. "Is she your princess?"

To her surprise, Laxus blushed, and looked away.

"She's not actually a princess, is she?" Mari asked, surprised. "Even Ivan can't be that stupid."

"N – No….she's….just a Lady, that's all."

Mari began to giggle, before it turned to full-blown laughter, causing her to fall to her knees, holding her sides.

"Are you okay?" Laxus asked.

"Sorry," she wheezed. "I just…haven't laughed in…a really long time."

Laxus nodded, before sighing and looking down at the girl in his arms. "But she's not mine anymore."

He continued walking, slipping into an alley to avoid most people, and Mari sighed as she followed them.

Her son was no where _near_ as stupid as his father, but he was still an idiot.

As they neared the guild, she started to shake and hang back a bit, and Laxus looked over at her. "Don't worry; they'll welcome you back with open arms."

He strode forward and kicked the front doors open.

Erik was already nearing the door, Macbeth, Juvia, Freed (carrying Yukino so she wouldn't be trampled), and Lucy right behind him.

The next wave held Jellal, Cana, Jet, Erza, Bickslow, Ultear, and Orga.

The others were still getting up from the table they were at, but Erik had obviously sensed him coming, and warned everyone.

Still, Erik came to a stop as he spotted Elle in Laxus's arms, causing Macbeth to crash into him. The two of them went down in a tangle of limbs, though they managed to quickly untangle themselves.

"What happened?" Macbeth asked, looking at his best friend, but Erik had already socked Laxus across the jaw.

It didn't do much, but Laxus's head turned with the force.

"Erik!" Makarov cried, surprised.

"You asshole!" Erik shouted, tears streaming down his face.

"I deserved that," Laxus admitted, solemnly, before walking past them to the infirmary. Everyone froze as they noticed Elle's bruised and battered body, and the only reason they remained quiet was probably because she was already asleep.

"Ellie-nee," Lucy whispered, and Juvia clutched onto Freed's side as she cried, while Freed tightened his hold on Yukino so she wouldn't jump out of his arms and stop Laxus and Elle from reaching the infirmary.

"What did he do, Erik?" Macbeth asked him.

"He hurt her," Erik whispered, his hands balled up, and his face cast in shadow.

"But we already knew that was going to happen…" Macbeth trailed off.

Erik shook his head, his body still shaking. "This is different."

He turned and ran up the stairs, following Laxus to the infirmary, and everyone followed after as they realized this.

"EVERYONE OUT!" Porlyusica screamed at them. "I ONLY WANT ELLE, LAXUS, AND LUCY IN HERE. EVERYONE, GET OUT!"

Just about everyone scarpered, except for Erik, who stood in the doorway, and Macbeth, who was still worried about his friend.

"Laxus doesn't _deserve_ to be in here with her," Erik said, glaring straight at Laxus's back.

Though they couldn't see his face, Laxus had slumped over at that, and gotten up. "Erik's right. I'll go."

He started to get up, but backed up as a broom slapped him on the head. "What the hell, Porlyusica?"

She scowled at him, brandishing the broom. "Don't be stupid. Elle will need you when she wakes up, and you know it."

She turned to look at Erik and Macbeth and waved her broom at them in warning. "Now GET OUT."

Scowling, Erik was pulled out of the room by Macbeth, who managed to close the door behind him.

" _Open, Gate of the Firebird_! _Phoenix_!" Lucy chanted.

Phoenix appeared in a burst of flames, his eyes widening as he took in Elle's broken form.

"Shit," he breathed. He turned to Lucy. "Ready, Princess? This is going to be a bit of a workout, especially cause it's a bit worse than I thought. And even still, I won't be able to do everything."

"What do you mean?" Laxus demanded.

Phoenix looked at him, before sighing. "I _mean_ , I'll be able to heal most of this, but she probably won't be able to walk properly for two to three weeks. Even with Celestial Help."

"Well, why not?" Laxus demanded.

Phoenix bit his lip, before looking back at Elle. "The damage is too extensive. For instance, it'll be able to loop everything back in the right place, and speed up its regeneration, but it won't be able to do much more than that. If I had gotten to her immediately, it would've been a different story, but she's had broken legs going on for over two months now, it seems. It's the exact same reasons she'll still have scars – it's been set too deeply into her body."

Laxus curled his fist and tried to stop from crying. He should have just thrown Mavis's plan to the wind and gone in guns blazing, like Fairy Tail _usually_ did.

Phoenix was actively healing Elle now, and Corvus opened his own gate so he could join the party, carrying several healing tonics in his hands, as well as some other things. Porlyusica studied them while Phoenix continued healing Elle, and Loke popped out too and started bandaging Elle's raw wrists and neck.

"Alright, I've done all I can for healing powers. Lucy, close my gate and summon Crater, alright?" Phoenix asked her.

She nodded and closed his gate, before requipping out a different key and saying, " _Crater_!"

An odd cup popped into existence, and he spun around.

Phoenix appeared on his own, and took the tonics from Corvus and Porlyusica. He poured one into Crater and handed it to Porlyusica. "Feed her this, please."

As Porlyusica gave her the tonic, Corvus and Phoenix wrapped her broken legs in bandages from the Celestial Spirit world, both soaked in special brews.

As Porlyusica finished and Lucy sent Crater back, Phoenix turned to look at Porlyusica and Laxus. "You don't need to worry about changing her bandages – they will come off on their own when she's healed. They're waterproof, and you won't have to worry about the brew that they're soaked in disappearing or anything."

Corvus pulled out what looked like a bottle of lotion. "Rub this on her scars every day. She'll still have most of them, but it should help them heal faster and fade a bit more."

"Laxus, where are most of her scars?" Porlyusica asked him, and he looked away in shame.

"Her back," he whispered.

Porlyusica tore off of Elle's shirt, causing Laxus to flinch, and Lucy started crying as she saw what happened to Elle's back and her guildmark. "Ellie-nee!"

"She'll be alright, princess," Loke told her, ruffling her hair. Corvus started hugging her while Phoenix turned to Laxus as Porlyusica applied the lotion. "Don't let her walk until those bandages come off, and even then, only emergency situations. She should start out slowly – only standing for a few hours every day until her muscles build up and she readjusts. Adding that on to her recovery time, she _should_ be able to walk properly the second week of October, but that's pushing it. Got everything, Laxus?"

Laxus looked away in shame. "I…I can't take care of her."

Phoenix rolled his eyes, and Corvus intervened. "We were monitoring things from the Celestial Spirit World, though we weren't able to see where she was exactly, and you did an alright job with the situation you were stuck in. She'll need you so she can heal mentally. Unless you'd rather abandon her."

Loke hit Corvus for being insensitive, but it didn't turn into a fight. "Elle will be alright with time, Laxus, but she'll need you by her side."

Mute, Laxus nodded.

"That's settled, then," Phoenix said joyously, before turning to Lucy. "We're going to be going now, Princess!"

She wiped away her tears and nodded, hiccupping. "Okay."

The three of them returned to the Spirit World, and Lucy turned and hugged Porlyusica, who was the closest to her.

"Hug your parents, instead, brat!" Porlyusica yelled at her.

Lucy nodded and left the room, likely to ask Makarov to call her parents, who were resting at their Magnolia home.

Porlyusica's attention turned to her grandson. "Whatever you did, I'm sure it's not as bad as you think."

"You're underestimating what I did," Laxus whispered.

"Am I?" Porlyusica asked.

He looked up at her, and she clarified. "Ivan was my _son,_ Laxus. I knew him well, I just didn't want to accept what he had become. And I understand that you had to have become a monster to blend in as you did. But I don't even need to ask to know Elle will soon (if she hasn't already) forgive you. The fact that you will be more tortured by your own guilt than any other punishment just proves how strong your bond is, child."

He looked at her, and slowly nodded, his eyes still empty. "I see what you're saying. But still…"

Porlyusica gave him a sad smile. "I know you won't accept it now, but in time, you will come to realize it as well."

* * *

"What did he do?" Macbeth asked Erik, who was still shaking in anger.

He said nothing.

"Erik…" Macbeth said.

Instead, Erik whirled around to look at the other kids.

He pinned Freed with a glare. "Who do you care about more, Elle or Laxus?"

Freed hesitated. He knew the answer, of course, but the fact that Erik was asking the question made him wary.

"Well?" Erik demanded.

"Ella-sama…" Freed said. "Why?"

Erik was still shaking, and he looked over at all of the kids. "Laxus is enemy number one, now. He hurt Elle, and he can't be forgiven for it."

All of the kids exchanged glances. They didn't exactly want to shun Laxus, but Erik could read minds. In the small amount of time he'd been there, Erik had risen in the ranks of People To Listen To, along with Makarov, Gildarts and Ur, and Elle, Laxus, and Erza and Jellal ( _especially_ if those last two agree). With the exception of Makarov and Elle, he was probably the one person people turned to the most. If he said Laxus hurt Elle, then Laxus did.

Erik's head shot up, and he went to look at the entrance to the guild in shock. The other kids followed his gaze, and there was a crash as Maggie dropped the plate she was carrying.

Everyone else turned to look at the entrance, following Maggie's gaze, and Makarov gasped, getting up from his seat. "Mari?"

Maggie was crying, and ran towards the woman, hugging her. "I thought you died, Mari!"

"No," she said quietly, smiling at Maggie. "Ivan has kept me prisoner. But I'm home now!"

She started to cry, and Makarov approached her. "My dear, you are, of course, welcome to move into our house."

"Why the hell would she move into our house?" came a voice.

Everyone turned to look at Laxus, who stood at the bottom of the stairs, holding a tray with a bowl of soup on it.

"You didn't tell him?" Maggie gasped.

Mari shook her head rapidly, wiping away her tears of joy.

"Laxus," Makarov started. "Mari is your mother."

Laxus blinked a few times, and then shrugged. "Yeah, that makes sense."

And then he turned and walked back up the stairs.

Erik's shoulders hunched as Laxus's thoughts drifted across his.

 _Great. Mari's my mother. She spent most of her time helping Elle recover from everything. She must be_ so _fucking proud, having a monster of a son._

 _Maybe you just don't deserve the women you love in your life._ His dragon hissed at him, and Erik's eyes widened.

Erik turned to look at Bickslow, someone he'd gotten close to recently because of their somewhat similar magic. When Erik used his soul reading magic, he couldn't see through Bickslow's eyes – he didn't have privilege to see the colors of the strings, but he knew that Bickslow could see soulmates.

"Bickslow," Erik said, everyone's attention was directed back at them.

Erik stared directly at Bickslow. "Tell me the shades of their strings in your mind."

 _Laxus and Elle_? Bickslow thought.

Erik nodded. Bickslow didn't want anyone knowing about his ability to see the strings, because he had a feeling that he would be mobbed by certain people in the guild.

"Tell me what colors they were the last time you saw them, and them now."

Erik couldn't _see_ into anyone's mind, he can only hear the thoughts that run through their soul, so Bickslow had to describe things for him.

 _As far as I can tell, the original color, which was like a candy red, from before, meant that they were still kinda seeing the world through 'rose colored glasses', if you know what I mean. It's actually kinda good it's not still like that. Now the new one, the color of blood, means that…I guess you could say that there's a bit turmoil between them, and they've experienced more of the real world._

"What color should it be?" Erik asked.

 _A nice crimson red is generally the best color most relationships are_.

Erik bit his lip. "But it's still red?"

Bickslow nodded. "Absolutely."

Erik sighed. He was still angry over what he'd seen, but he couldn't deny the guilt in Laxus's heart or the way that Laxus had cried for everything he had done when he was alone. And if their string was still red…

"Never...mind," Erik said, looking back up at the ceiling. Even through the ceiling, he could still feel the heaviness of Laxus's heart, and hear Laxus's dragon, which was much more developed than his, romping around his mind angrily at hurting the person he held in his heart the most. "Laxus…isn't enemy number one. He's a member of Fairy Tail, just like us, and he'll probably need some support."

Everyone breathed out a sigh of relief, and Erik noted their reactions, starting to feel a bit guilty. They depended on him for the truth, and he went a bit too far for his personal feelings.

He wouldn't do it again; Fairy Tail need him to be unbiased.

They were a family, and that meant they worked together.


	85. Reunion

**Sorry this is so late, this chapter ended up super long. Also, you guys are sooooo sweet! I had several people contact me to ask if I was okay. Thanks, you guys, I love you. Enjoy this super long chapter. Next one should be normal sized.**

* * *

 **Chapter Eighty Five - Reunion**

The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was Laxus's face.

I was lying in the Fairy Tail infirmary (déjà vu, am I right?) and my head was turned to the side. Opening my eyes, I noticed Laxus, who was sitting in a chair next to me. He had his arms folded on the bed, and his head resting on top of them. I couldn't help but notice the dried tear tracks on his face.

It wasn't exactly comfortable, but I moved my arm back and, ever so slowly, stroked his hair.

I also tried to pull myself up into a sitting position, so I would be able to stroke his hair more easily.

As I did so, I realized how much _better_ I felt. I still hurt, all over, and my legs still ached, but it was a lot less severe, and some of the wounds didn't feel as bad. I could feel the bandages wrapped around my torso, obviously for the whip scars on my back, and my legs were also wrapped in a type of hardened-like bandages.

"Don't strain yourself," came a soft voice, and Laxus's hands gently pulled me into a sitting position.

After that, he averted his eyes.

"You know, Laxus," I said conversationally. "I had a really weird dream that you were stupider than usual." I paused. "But near the end of the dream, it turned out that I was the stupid one." My tone softened. "I already told you we'd get through this together, Laxus."

He continued looking away, and I began to roll my eyes as I grabbed his arm and tried pulling him onto the bed.

"What are you doing?" he cried.

"I want to snuggle with you, and you're being difficult!" I complained, tugging him.

"Elle, I…I don't deserve to be your friend anymore."

"Bullshit!" I said. "If you don't get onto this bed _right now_ , I...I will punch myself in the leg."

"What?" Laxus cried.

 _Shit, he won't believe that._

No choice.

"That's it!" I shouted, pulling back my arm and aiming for my leg.

He grabbed my arm. "Are you _insane?_ You just spent the last four months imprisoned and tortured and you want to hurt yourself _more?"_

I glared at him. "I _want_ you to cuddle with me. So, get in this damn bed!"

He stared at me before sighing, and very carefully, scooting me over so he could climb in next to me.

"Good!" I said, curling into him.

Hesitantly, he wrapped his arms around me.

I tried my best not to flinch, or stiffen.

The odd feeling I had felt as I fell asleep in his arms was still there, but there was also the underlying fear.

Which is what led to my decision.

I was going to cause Stockholm Syndrome.

...Kinda.

Okay, so technically, Stockholm Syndrome starts off with a captor being...not nice and eventually becoming nicer. Really, they just allow basic amenities and human right privileges, but since the captive had adjusted to a not-so-nice lifestyle, it seems like special treatment and eventually makes the victim look at the captor as their savior...

Laxus...already kinda has started that (with hurting me, but also wrapping me up when Ivan hurt me)...so maybe if I just force myself to be around him and force him to take care of me, I'll eventually start to trust him again completely.

Or maybe I'm making some leaps here.

Don't care.

Doing it anyway.

"I'm not going to run away from you, Laxus," I whispered to him. "You're my best friend. And I couldn't imagine my life without you."

His arms tightened around me, and he let out a choked sound. "But…after what I did…"

"I'll admit," I said quietly. "It's…going to be a bit hard for me to recover from that…mentally and physically. But we will move past that. _Both_ of us. But we're going to need each other's help."

I tilted my head up to look into his eyes, which were watering, and he tugged me closer to him, clutching me tightly.

"Okay," he whispered.

I smiled and curled into him tighter. I haven't had a comforting touch in months, and even though Laxus carried me yesterday, my body still hurt too much to really notice.

But this…relaxing in the arms of my friend? In the arms of _Laxus_?

Even though I was still scared of him, it also made me feel safe.

Despite _everything,_ his arms felt like home.

The pounding of footsteps started building from the direction of the stairs, and Laxus helped me sit up as we looked at the door.

Within seconds, it burst open, and the kids piled into the rooms.

The first one to me was Juvia, who was ahead of the others. Laxus was already off the bed, and he grabbed her by the back of her dress and lifted her into the air, stopping everyone else in their tracks.

" _No one_ tackles Elle. Is that understood?" he hissed.

Orga was sneaking around, and Laxus put down Juvia and grabbed Orga, throwing him up until Orga rotated so he was able to grab the boy by the ankle. "What did I just _say_ , Orga?"

Orga huffed and crossed his arms (all the while hanging upside down). "I just wanted to say 'hi'. I wasn't going to _tackle_ her or anything."

I smiled softly at them. "Hey guys. You can't go on my legs, but if you're careful you can still hug me."

As my eyes drifted among the kids, I realized something. "I'm going to have a lot of birthdays to make up, aren't I?"

At this, more than a few of the kids burst into tears.

"Hey guys, it's alright!" I cried, throwing out my arms. "Come here!"

Lucy got to me first this time, sobbing her eyes out. "Hey, you'll still get your usual day with me, alright?"

Her sobbing started to get incomprehensible, the only thing I was able to pick out of it was something that was _probably_ 'Ellie-nee'.

"Lucy-san, stop hogging Onee-sama!" Juvia said from behind her.

"Hey, don't worry, you guys will all get your turns, alright?" I said. "How about, to make it fair, we go from youngest to oldest, alright?"

"Will I get a turn again?" Lucy asked, still clutching me.

"When everyone is done, if you really need one," I said softly.

The girl nodded and squeezed me tighter, before wiping her face and letting go.

"Yukino, you're first," I said to the small light-haired bluenette at Lucy's side.

Yukino made her way to the bed and Laxus picked her up, putting her on my lap in a way where she wouldn't hurt my legs.

"Hey, darling," I said, quietly brushing her hair. "How are you?"

She didn't say anything, her eyes just welled with tears and she curled up into me more, clutching at my shirt.

I wrapped my arms around her and continued stroking her hair as her sobs got louder. "There, there, Yukino. I'm here now, okay? I'm _back_."

She nodded, still not speaking, and still clutching me tightly.

It wasn't long before she fell asleep, and Laxus passed her back to Sorano.

Kagura came forward next, Laxus helping her into the bed safely. I think it was the fact that Laxus was so serious and so dead set on being careful that really made the situation sink in. So everyone sat on nearby beds or chairs, so they could stay close while they waited.

"Hey, how have you been?" I asked her.

She didn't say anything, nearly hugged me more. "You're not allowed to do that again, Onee-chan."

I laughed and messed with her hair. "I'll do my best, alright? But no promises."

After a while, she hugged me again, nodded, and moved away for Orga, who sprang onto the bed.

Laxus caught him mid jump and hung him upside down by his foot again. "Orga! What. Did. I. Say?"

Orga pouted. "Nii-chan! I just want to say hi to Nee-chan!"

Laxus sighed and gently put Orga down on my lap, where stuck his tongue out at Laxus before he hugged me happily. "Nee-chan!"

I giggled, ruffling his short hair. "So, you've adopted Laxus as an older brother?"

Orga nodded excitedly. "We're both Lightning Slayers!"

I have no idea how long this is going to last, with how gruff he ended up last time, but I am going to keep adorable little Orga all to myself until it's done.

I squeezed him. "Oh, you're such a cutie pie!"

He giggled and moved out of the way for Millianna, who sprung onto the bed before Laxus could stop her. Luckily, since she was part cat (maybe…), she landed gracefully on my lap and curled up, nudging her head into my stomach and purring up a storm.

"Hey, Milli!" I said, ruffling her hair, causing her purrs to get even louder. "How have you been?"

"I've been taking care of the catnip for you!" she said, nudging my hand to stroke her again as it slowed down.

"By taking care, do you mean actually watering it, or eating it all?"

She blushed. "I've been watering some of it…"

"The rest is gone, though?" I asked, laughing.

"Maybe," she pouted.

Sho came up after that, about to jump me like Millianna did before Laxus glared at him and picked him up carefully.

I couldn't help wondering if Laxus was going to pick up everyone. Not everyone there was exactly what you would call 'small'.

"Hey Sho. How are you doing?" I asked him.

He was quiet, before he glanced at Cana and blurted. "Cana's being mean to me!"

"I am not!" Cana shouted back.

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

I cleared my throat.

It did nothing.

"GUYS!" I shouted, and my voice cracked on the last note, my throat still sore.

Laxus handed me a glass of water and everyone calmed down as they waited for me.

"Sorry about that," I said, before turning to the two of them. "Sho, what is she being mean _about_?"

"Our magic," Sho said, pouting.

I nodded. "Listen, you need to be careful when it comes to magic. Cana has been using Card Magic since she was five – over five years now. She's more experienced then you are, so you should definitely listen to her and take what she says into account. However-" I pinned Cana with a glare, as she had started smirking as I finished my last sentence. "Cana, try and find some ways to be _nicer_ when explaining things to Sho. Don't boss him around, or be rude to him. While his magic is the same _type_ as yours, it's not the exact same, alright? He needs to develop spells on his own."

"Is that clear?" I asked both of them.

They looked at each other sadly before nodding. "S-sorry Cana," Sho said.

"Sorry, Sho," she said back.

I nodded. "Good, isn't that better!"

They nodded, both smiling, and Sho leaned forward to hug me before getting off.

Laxus tossed Levy onto my lap next, and she hugged me immediately, babbling away in my ear about things that happened when I was gone. Almost all of it went out the other ear, but I smiled and nodded her along anyway.

Finally, after several minutes of nonstop talking, Juvia cleared her throat, whining. "Levy-san, stop hogging Onee-sama!"

Juvia was currently being held in the air by Laxus by the back of her dress, in order to stop her from glomping me.

"Sorry Juvia-chan, Elle-chan!" Levy said, hopping off, and Laxus rolled his eyes as he lowered Juvia next, even though she was squirming the whole way down (as if that would get her down faster).

"ONEE-SAMA!" Juvia sobbed, clutching onto me, and the pitter patter of rain started clashing with the roof.

I pulled her in closer, shifting her so I was more comfortable. "Hey, Juvia, don't worry. I'm right here, sweetheart! I'm not going anywhere else, either. I don't think I'm needed anywhere until July of next year at least, alright baby? I might do some training because my magic has diminished, but other than that, I'll be fine. So, I'll be staying right here."

Still sniffling, Juvia squeezed me tighter, as if to check that I was real, and the rain went down.

"There you go," I said, stroking her hair. "It's okay, darling."

"Y-you're not al-lowed to go-ooo!" she cried, curling up into more of a ball.

"Hey, that's…fine!" I said. "We'll do a sleepover soon, how about that? We can all camp out in the training room, if you want to."

There were numerous nods around the room, and that's what finally reassured Juvia enough to get off of my lap so Brandish could take her turn.

"Nora," she said evenly, facing me.

"Brandy," I returned, meeting her gaze.

Her lip started trembling, and she wrapped her arms around my neck. "You're not allowed to do that, okay?"

I sighed and stroked her hair. "I'll do my best, Brandy, alright? You and Lucy going to stay for the party?"

"Yes," Lucy said firmly, from where she stood a few feet away.

"Good," I said, squeezing Brandish's shoulders a little.

She still wasn't full out crying, like some of the other kids have been, but I let her take a bit to compose herself before she turned back to everyone else and made room for Droy, who came up to hug me and tell me a bit on how his magic was progressing, before he was shoved aside by Cana.

"Elle-nee-chan!" she cried, hugging me.

"The 'nee-chan' is back, is it?" I asked her, smirking.

She just hugged me tighter. "I'm never too old to call you Nee-chan."

I smiled and stroked her hair. "It's alright, sweetie. Everything will be fine."

She nodded and continued hugging me, settling onto my lap. "Fine, but you're in trouble! And it took _forever_ to find you! We were so busy searching we didn't do the Games this year!"

I blinked. "Was that Mavis's idea?"

Cana nodded. "How did you know?"

"Call it a hunch," I said, muttering to myself.

"Cana get off!" Jet complained. "I want Ellen-nee!"

Cana stuck her tongue out at him before hugging me again and hopping off.

At this point, Jet was practically vibrating where he stood, and I realized that his magic was probably getting the best of him.

Sure enough: "You're not allowed on Elle until you calm your magic down."

Jet scowled up at Laxus, but took a deep breath and managed to calm down to only a slight twitching, the same way I'll bounce my leg when I'm thinking too hard.

"Is it good now?" he complained.

Laxus nodded and picked him up, before handing him to me.

"Hey, kiddo, how are you doing?" I asked him.

He just curled up into my lap and cried.

My shirt was pretty wet right now.

"Hey, I'm _right here_ , Jet," I whispered to him, rocking him back and forth. "Right here, alright?"

He sniffled and nodded, still gripping me tightly and crying.

I ruffled his hair, and he leaned back to look up at me. "There you go, alright sweetie?" I asked him.

He nodded and went back to hugging. "I-I'm just glad you're alright, Ellen-nee."

Sorano cleared her throat and Jet glared at her. "You have Yukino in your lap, you can't hug Ellen-nee anyway."

"Jet," I said gently. "You can't keep me all to yourself, alright?"

He pouted and squeezed me, before allowing Laxus to pull him off.

Orga, despite barely being twice as old as her, took Yukino from Sorano (as he seemed to have gotten attached to the little girl) and Sorano approached me, getting put onto my lap by Laxus.

"Promise you won't do that again," she said, her voice trembling as she looked at me. Her eyes were full of tears. " _Promise_."

I shook my head. "I'm sorry, Sorano, I can't. I would do anything for you kids, and if I need to do that again, then I will. But I promise I'll train harder, and try to get stronger so this doesn't happen again, alright? So I can come back to you sooner."

She bit her lip but nodded, curling up into me, and I stroked her hair for a bit before she left my lap and reclaimed Yukino.

Gray was next, and I honestly should have seen this coming from his age, but he didn't really want to climb onto the bed.

I glared at him. "I've been gone for over four months. Get your ass up here, Fullbuster."

He turned red and Lyon laughed at him as Laxus put him on my lap.

I hugged him. "I missed you."

Slowly, he started returning the hug. "Yeah, I missed you too, Elle. Next time, take someone with you, okay?"

I nodded and didn't mention how his voice cracked a bit on the last word. I let him hide his face as my shirt started to get a bit wet, trying to compose himself before he got off. When he leaned back I ruffled his hair, and he got out of the way for Lyon, who hopped up next and hugged me a bit more eagerly than his brother. "You should take _me_ next time."

I laughed and ruffled his hair. "We'll see, sweetheart, alright?"

Some people took less time than others, because they knew they'd get to spend more time with me eventually and they also knew that other kids were closer to me and needed more reassurance. In that aspect, I was really proud of how mature some of the kids were.

Lyon grinned, before hopping off of the bed and making room for Simon, who shyly came up and hugged me. "It's been weird without you, Elle."

I smiled at him. "Well, I'm back now, so things should get back to normal now."

"Please don't do that again," he smiled, before he backed off for Erza, who hopped into my lap and tried hugging me.

I stopped her. "Erza."

She stopped, looking sad. "W…what's wrong, Aneki?"

It was the first time I heard that word, but I figured that it was probably another term for sister.

I smiled at her. "New rule. If you're going to hug someone, requip your armor."

She looked at me, confused. "I don't get it."

I laughed. "Erza, do you really want people avoiding your hugs? If you always hug someone while wearing a chest plate, you could hurt them. People won't want to hug you if they get a headache every time."

Understanding dawned and she requipped into a regular blouse, before hugging me eagerly and snuggling up.

I stroked her hair. "There you go, Erza. How have you been while I was gone?"

She beamed up at me. "I've gotten much stronger! I can beat Lyon, and I almost beat Gray the other day!"

 _Jeez,_ that's weird to think about.

But Gray has been training a lot longer (and as I mentioned awhile back, was stronger than Lyon), so it _shouldn't_ be surprising that he's stronger than Erza.

Still, it felt _weird_ , thinking about it.

God, Natsu is going to be so far behind.

And even now, Lucy is the strongest of them…oh, that's just awesome as hell.

"And how have your sword skills been?" I asked.

"Really good," she beamed. "Perseus keeps saying that I'm a natural!"

"That's great!" I said, as Ultear came up for her turn. She switched spots with Erza, and hugged me tightly.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

I wrapped my arms around her. "You have nothing to be sorry for. What's wrong?"

"Brain hates you so much….because of me," she whispered.

I shook my head and stroked her hair. "No, Brain hates me because I'm a pain in his ass. It's not your fault, darling, so get over it. And there's a large chance Ivan would've come for me anyway, because he needed me to power the machine. It was just a coincidence that Brain ended up giving me to him."

She squeezed me tighter, curling up, and I sighed as I patted her on the head. "I know you don't want to listen, Ultear, but _it's not your fault_. It's Brain's, alright? And he's not the only one who stopped me from coming back."

Slowly, after a few moments of silence, she nodded, and I felt some tension leave me.

"There we go," I whispered to her, and after a few seconds she released me.

She left and Jellal came up, nearly smothering me in his hug. "I missed you, Elle!" he whispered, tightening his hold on me. "I'm so glad you're back."

Unlike some of the other boys who acted a bit closed off or tough, Jellal threw it all to the wind and simply hugged me.

I smiled down at him and curled my arms around him. "Hey, Jellal," I said softly. "I missed you too, sweetie. How have you been?"

"It's been too quiet without you," he replied.

"Fairy Tail, quiet? Let's be real now, it's never quiet here," I said chuckling.

He laughed a bit. "I said it was _too quiet_ , not _quiet_. It's still plenty loud; it is Fairy Tail after all." His smile disappeared a bit. "It just wasn't loud enough."

I squeezed his arm and ruffled his hair. "Well, I guess I'll have to make up for the time I was gone, then. Don't worry, we'll have the townsfolk at our door complaining about the noise soon enough!"

He and Laxus still didn't know they were related. I'd have to find a time to tell Makarov.

He laughed, smiling, before getting off and making room for Wally, who came close and hugged me once. "Thank you for saving my brother," he said, before backing away.

I smiled at him. "There's no way I _couldn't_ save him, sweetie."

Freed came next and threw himself on me, sobbing anime rivers and getting everyone else wet, not just me. He was making mostly incomprehensible noises, most of which sounded like _Ella-sama_ , but could have just as easily been something else.

"Oh, come on, Freed," I said, stroking his hair. "There's no need to cry. I'm back now, and I'll be staying, alright?"

He didn't stop crying, still clinging to me, and Evergreen sighed behind him, knowing that it would probably be awhile before she finally got her turn.

"Hey, I made it back for your special day, right?" I reminded him, and his hands on me tightened.

I let out a sharp breath of air as one of his hands hit one of the whip scars on my back, and Laxus ripped Freed off of me.

While everyone else had thrown their arms around my neck to hug me, Freed had wrapped his arms around me because of his growing size, and his hands had tightened directly on one of my fresh wounds from the previous day.

Laxus stared Freed down, his eyes glowing and sparking dangerously. " _I thought I told you guys to be careful!_ " he hissed.

"Laxus!" I said, glaring at him and crossing my arms. "Stop bullying Freed! He didn't know!"

"What did I do?" Freed asked, hanging from Laxus's arm limply.

" _You hurt her!_ " Laxus hissed.

" _Laxus!_ " I shouted. "Put him down!"

Laxus glared at him and put him down, and Freed scrambled over to me and hugged me very very carefully. "I'm so sorry I hurt you, Ella-sama!"

I sighed and stroked his hair again. "It's okay, just try to be careful for the next few weeks okay?"

He nodded and backed up, finally letting Evergreen come forward to embrace me. "I missed you so much, Elle," she whispered.

I smiled down at her and hugged her back. "I missed you too, sweetheart. How have you been?"

She smiled. "I've gotten a lot stronger, and I've gotten lot better at flying, too. And while a slumber party is nice, we _also_ need one just for the girls."

"What?" Orga whined. "No fair! I wanna come!"

Laxus sighed. "Orga, trust me, you won't want to be involved with an all-girl sleepover. But…"

He looked at all of the girls. "Elle is not having a sleepover _without_ me until she's able to go on her own."

I smiled at him. At least he was accepting that he'd be taking care of me for awhile.

The kids all looked to me, as if judging my reaction. I shrugged. "Yeah, that's probably smart. So, we won't be able to do all-girl sleepovers for another month or two."

Evergreen (and the rest of the girls) looked disappointed, but Freed seemed to be extremely happy (though I'm not sure why) while muttering something under his breath, and hugging Juvia, who was cheered up quickly by what he said.

Nab came up and hugged me, muttering nonsense about his magic as he passed me a slip of paper, which I hid under my pillow. I smiled and hugged him for the gossip on Enno and he switched out for Sawyer, who did some hugging and some grumbling about making him leave.

I was so proud of them, for letting more emotional kids spend more time with me.

Bickslow came up next, with his three-no, _four_ souls totting along. "Bickslow, you got another soul!"

He smiled and hugged me. "Yeah, Big Sis. This is Pupu."

"Nice ta meetcha!" Pupu yelled, spinning around. "I've heard a lot 'boutcha Miss Elle!"

I giggled. "It's nice to meet you too, Pupu. You'll have to tell me how you two met, sometime."

He's just needs Popo now, and he'll have all five.

"Hey, we want time with Elle, too!" Papa yelled, and I was suddenly swarmed by tiny souls in puppets.

"Guys, this is supposed to be _my_ time!" Bickslow yelled at his puppets, and they finally settled down so he could hug me; which was once again awkward, considering his large size.

When we first met, he was taller than Laxus. Laxus is now taller, but Bickslow is still way larger than most of the kids here.

"Alright, someone wants to say 'hi' to you!" Bickslow said happily, and his puppets carried him off of me, revealing Erik, who met my eyes and hugged me immediately.

"You're not allowed to do that again," he said.

My face was pressed to his chest and I couldn't exactly talk back, so I projected my thoughts to him. _Erik, if it comes down to it, you know what choice I'm going to make. I already explained this to Sorano._

His arms tightened around me, careful to still be wary of my back. "I don't care," he grumbled into my ear. "Macbeth and I agreed that since we're older, we'll be the ones protecting you."

I smiled into his chest. "Well, you'll have to catch up to me first. Now, how's Kinana?"

"She's still Cubellios," Erik said, pulling back. "Master said that over seven years from now, it would be irreversible, but we have enough time to research it properly right now. He thinks that something it blocking it, and he's worried that we won't be able to turn her back without side-effects if we don't do it right."

I nodded, remembering her memory loss. "Alright. So is that what you guys have been doing while I was gone? Investigating and training and research?"

He nodded and sighed, his head turning in a way that made me realize he was listening to someone's thoughts. He stepped back, before grabbing Laxus and starting to drag him outside of the room. "Sorry, Elle, got to have a quick chat! Macbeth, you're up."

I stared at the two dragon slayers that left the room, and turned to Macbeth, who was the only one left. "Hey, Macbeth."

He pulled me into his arms. "I'm supposed to protect you now, alright Dawn?"

"Dawn?" I asked.

He nodded. "You're my Imouto now, so yeah. I'm calling you Dawn. Because you brought us into a new start - a new life. You were the dawn of Fairy Tail."

I smiled at the endearment and hugged him tighter. "Alright. What do you want me to call you?"

"Huh?" he asked, stepping back.

"How about Mac-nii? Or Beth-nii?" I asked, teasingly.

"How about no '-nii'?" Macbeth replied. "Alright? We don't need the terms, Dawnie…but I wanted you to know what you are to me."

Laxus cleared his throat, having returned to the room, and Erik stepped on his foot. He glared at the younger slayer, and I turned towards the last two. "Richard?"

He hugged me. "Thank you for your sacrifice, Elle." He pulled back and made room for Erigor, who hugged me to his chest.

"Hey, Erigor," I said, smiling as I hugged him back.

" _Try_ not to do that again, alright?" he asked.

"I'll do my best," I said.

He pulled away and Lucy jumped back at me, hugging me and crying, and she was quickly followed by Yukino, Freed and Juvia.

"What did I say?" Laxus yelled, grabbing both Lucy and Juvia and pulling them off of me. Freed was smart enough (and mature enough) to get off himself, and he brought Yukino with him.

"But I didn't get a chance!" Orga whined.

"You're not the only one," Jet muttered, crossing his arms and vibrating again.

"Are you kids done?" came a voice from the doorway, and I stiffened a bit when I realized who was standing there.

"Hi, Mavis," I said quietly, starting to lose my smile. "Yeah, we're done..."

"Elle..." her voice broke on my name and she flew forward, sobbing. "I'm SO SORRY! I didn't know it was going to be like this!"

I averted my eyes.

"Bullshit!" Laxus snapped, his aura crackling with electricity as he stepped in her path, stopping her from reaching me. "I _told_ you what was going on, _you_ just couldn't think of a different solution, so we had to continue with the previous plan."

"Laxus, you don't need to yell at her," I said quietly, my hands tightening on the sheets..

Mavis began to cry more, but unlike in the previous timeline, Laxus didn't give a damn. Instead, he stared the tiny girl down as she cried. "Elle...will you ever forgive me?"

Everyone was quiet at that, and I still didn't meet her eyes as I spoke. "I don't know, Mavis. I'd like to say 'yes', but I don't know if I can. Sorry."

"What are you sorry for?" Zeref asked, confused.

No one needed to say it, but I could sense the tension between the couple. From what I could guess, Zeref didn't approve of the plan, once they got more information.

I didn't want them to have trouble because of me.

"One thing..." I said quietly. "...that I always respected about Fairy Tail...was this guild's capacity for forgiveness. And I don't know if I have that ability. But...we always knew I wasn't cut from the same cloth..."

"BULLSHIT!" Cana yelled. "You're what makes this guild what it is, Elle!"

At that, the kids burst into cheers and I burst into tears, feeling overwhelmed from everyone.

"That's enough, I wanna see my Ellie-girl!" a demanding voice came, and Enno pushed everyone out of the way and run up to me, hugging me and crying. "I'm so glad you're alright!"

"You know I'm thirteen, right Enno?" I said to her, slightly amused as I wiped away my tears. "I'm not nine anymore. I think I've grown out that name."

She sniffled and combed her fingers through my hair, which was a bit knotted. Then again, I hadn't had a shower in months…"Nuh-uh, you'll always be Ellie-girl."

"She's right," Macao and Wakaba said from behind her, and they each gave me a quick hug.

This was followed by Silver and Ur, both of which hugged me tightly, and then Layla, who finally sprung on me when Jude let her go.

She sobbed and cried more than any of the kids while clutching me (except maybe Freed and Juvia, but they don't count), and I let her, simply relaxing into the embrace as she hugged me and Jude ruffled my hair.

Hugs were just amazing. After all I'd been through, these hugs seemed miraculous – they all lifted my spirits to an incredible high.

"Is Dad still not back yet?" Cana asked Silver, who shook his head.

"Where _is_ Gildarts?" I asked.

"He went away to destroy the machine you were hooked up to," Laxus explained, sitting down next to me.

"Okay," I said, nodding, before turning to Mavis. "Why didn't you guys compete in the Grand Magic Games this year?"

"We didn't want to attract attention," Mavis said. "We were trying to lie low."

I stared at her blankly. "You do realize…you just attracted _more_ attention like that? First, we destroyed the stadium last year, then we cancelled our annual never-before-been-canceled Fantasia Parade so we could storm the Tower, and then we didn't show up to this year's Games."

Mavis's face screwed up and she started to cry, waving her arms around. "I'm supposed to strategize from the shadows!"

I rolled my eyes. "Mavis, we're Fairy Tail; we're always in the spotlight. You're going to have to adjust."

I turned back to everyone else. "Since we've attracted so much attention by _disappearing_ , our Fantasia Parade this year needs to be _epic_ as _fuck_."

Most of the kids were nodding.

"So, I want us to start working on our stuff soon, if that's alright with everyone. We can have a lot of fun that way, and it'll turn out _super_ awesome."

I turned to Mavis and Makarov. "Speaking of which, did anyone tell the Royal Family what happened?"

"Kinda," Layla said. "I responded that none of us would be able to attend Hisui's party, but nothing more. We didn't want to worry them."

I sighed. "They're probably thinking that I've ignored them for months! Also, I'm a _Lady_. That means that they can help give you resources if I go missing! You should have told them what happened."

Everyone's jaws dropped in shock, and Jude and Layla looked ashamed for not thinking of it.

I sighed again. "Can someone get me pen and paper, anyway?"

"What do you need that for?" Laxus asked.

"I'm going to write Ame a letter explaining our odd and mysterious absence," I snapped.

The kids all looked at me with puppy dog faces.

I scowled at them. "Hisui must be pretty upset. How would you feel if I just stopped visiting you guys one day? They don't even know _why_ I couldn't visit! And it wasn't just me, we _all_ missed her birthday party."

At that, the kids mostly looked ashamed.

"Wait, what's going on?" Macbeth asked.

"So…" Erik hesitated as I grabbed the paper and started writing out a letter. "Elle's apparently royalty…."

"Who's thinking that?" My head shot up. "I'm not royalty guys."

"She's technically nobility," Laxus said.

"Even then, it's only a technicality," Freed interrupted. "Because she wasn't born into nobility. She was given it for _honor._ Which makes it more important."

I folded up the letter and sealed it, before turning to look at Jet. "Jet, would you run this to the post, please?"

He nodded, grabbed the letter, and ran off.

I turned to the rest of the kids. "Why don't you kids pick out a movie? I'd like to take a bath with a few of the women, alright? I haven't been clean in a few months."

The kids nodded and scarpered, and before anyone else could do anything, Ur hefted me up and started carrying me out of the room. She was careful, and didn't hurt me, but I was surprised that she was able to carry me so easily.

She headed downstairs with Layla and Enno following her, and we picked up Maggie and Mari on the way, as they were catching up by the bar. Maxie, who had grown a lot in the past few months, was passed to her father, though she waved at me as I passed.

I was glad that she recognized me.

The six of us convened in the woman's bath, a bonus I wasn't expecting. I _did_ suggest a few things for Makarov to make while I was traveling (back when I was still searching for the Oracion Seis) and he _did_ tell me that it was being constructed when I came back from my birthday, but I was very happy with the progress.

The group of us all climbed into the bath, and started bathing, the other girls helping me.

It only took them a few seconds to give up on my hair.

"I'll get Lucy," Layla sighed. "We're going to need Cancer's help. Sorry, Elle."

"Yeah, I'm not that surprised," I admitted.

She got out of the tub and wrapped herself in a robe before heading out. She returned a few seconds later, and Lucy ran in after her.

"What is it, Ellie-nee?"

"Can you summon Cancer, please?" I asked softly.

She looked at me questioningly, but the nine-year-old did as I asked. She put her hand on her key, closing her eyes, and there was a ding as Cancer appeared.

I gave her a soft smile. "So, you can summon without the incantation?"

She nodded. "For some of them. But Silver Keys, definitely, and for the Gold Keys I've been contracted to for longer."

"How can I help you today, ebi?" Cancer asked, snapping his scissors.

"Can you cut my hair shorter?" I asked him.

"Why not just have him fix it?" Layla asked.

"I'd just..." I lowered my eyes, "...Rather not have all of my hair right now."

Cancer raised his hands questioningly, and I answered before he could ask. "No bangs."

He pouted but came over to my hair, cutting it shorter very quickly. He held up a mirror. "How is that, ebi?"

I bit my lip. Now it looked more like what it was _before_ he had extended it back during X774 (when he had to fix Ultear's hair), at around shoulder length rather than rib length, but it wasn't what I wanted.

"I don't think you understand, Cancer," I said quietly. "I want it shorter. Like…a boy cut."

All of the girls (with the exception of Ur) gasped in unison, and Lucy looked like she was about to cry.

"Ellie-girl, your hair is beautiful!" Enno cried.

Lucy shook her head. "No, Ellie-nee! Your hair is too pretty to cut it all off. And if you do that, you won't match with Mommy and me anymore! It's bad enough Yukino won't grow hers out!"

I blinked at her. I knew that Lucy had a bit of a special connection to her mom through her hair (which is why she didn't want to cut it in Edolas and acted weird about Edo Lucy cutting hers), but did she really see me so much as a family that she wanted all of us to have long hair?

"Lucy," I said quietly. "Look, I promise I'll grow it out again eventually, alright? But right now, I need a change. It just…it needs to be short."

She opened her mouth to protest, but Layla said, "Lucy..." warningly. She looked over at her mother.

"If Elle wants to cut her hair short for now, let her. It's not your hair."

Lucy looked me in the eye, and slowly nodded. Though she was obviously disappointed, she accepted it easily – which is good, because if she didn't I'd probably sheer it off myself, and God knows I can't do it anywhere as well as Cancer does.

Cancer approached my head, and started snipping, before handing me a mirror.

I had never gotten it this short in my previous life – I had had a bob cut once, but it looked horrible, and I grew it out as quickly as possible.

This _wasn't_ a bob cut, or anything like Ur's - it was a boy cut.

The sides of my head were trimmed down, and the top of my head had some hair curled over it, brushed out.

Honestly, it looked a lot better than I thought. It didn't really suit me – at _all_ , but it made me feel better.

Safe.

"Thank you, Cancer," I told him. I would have an odd time adjusting, though. My head felt lighter, and I didn't feel locks of hair hanging over my shoulders, neck and back.

He smiled. "No problem, ebi. Would you like me to help you wash it?"

"If you don't mind," I said.

He nodded and began washing my hair (which was much easier with it's smaller length), and Lucy left the room.

A few seconds later, the stampeding of feet came, and all of the girls ran into the room.

They were also followed by Orga, until all of the girls squealed and Sorano and Brandish dragged him outside.

As they closed the door, and soon rejoined us, you could hear Orga crying out, "Nii-chan, let me go! I want to go, too!"

I sighed. Poor Laxus; Orga was going to be a handful.

"Onee-sama!" Juvia cried. "Why did you change your hair?"

"I just needed a change guys, alright?" I said quietly, averting my eyes. "I'm not comfortable with it long right now."

"It tends to happen a lot," Ur explained in the silent aftermath. "When people need a change in their lives, sometimes they'll cut their hair, or dye it. It's generally a pretty safe way to make a change."

The girls understood but continued to pout until I pointed out, "If you guys don't leave, the boys will pick out all of the movies. Who knows what they'll choose?"

At that, they just about all ran out, and Cancer had finished cleaning my hair and vanished.

We finished bathing and Ur helped me redress the bandages for the scars on my back and torso while I sat on the edge of the bathing pool.

I requipped out a dress from my storage space and quickly pulled it over my head, pulling it down completely as Ur picked me up. It would be easier for me to take care of everything if I wore dresses for now.

"Alright, let's go," I told her softly, and the group of us left the room.

The boys were waiting as we got out, no doubt looking for a glimpse at my new hairstyle.

Sure enough -

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO YOUR _HAIR_?!" Laxus screeched.

* * *

 **Next chapter Elle will tell the Dreyars about their new member.**

 **Also guess who started a new Fairy Tail story?**

 **Me. The answer is me.**

 **I'd appreciate it if you all checked it out.**


	86. Family Meetings, Part One

**Warning for descriptions of torture (aka Laxus's revenge on Ivan). Dark!Laxus.**

* * *

 **Chapter Eighty Six - Family Meetings, Part One**

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Makarov asked.

Most people were still acting oddly about my hair, which (honestly) wasn't too surprising. I was (apparently) well-known for my like of long hair and extreme hatred of bangs (I think I'm entitled).

Well, their reaction to _me_ wasn't that surprising; they'd only ever seen me with long hair, after all. They, however, were _very_ surprised by the change.

While they were all gossiping about it, I asked to speak to Makarov privately, and we managed to disappear before anyone could tell what we were doing. Ur continued to carry me upstairs and placed me on the chair in his office, and Makarov faced me now.

I hesitated. "You're not going to like it. Well...you are and you aren't."

"What do you mean by that?" he asked.

I sighed and looked down, poking my fingers together. "Um...Ivan has a second son."

Makarov's eyes bulged out as I looked up to see his reaction. "WHAT?"

I nodded. "And...not with Mari, either."

"Do you know who the child is?" Makarov asked.

"Yeah," I said quietly. "It's...Jellal."

"...Fernandez?"

I rolled my eyes. " _Yes_ , Master."

He blinked a few times, hopped down from the desk, and walked to the door, pulling it open. "LAXUS! JELLAL! MY OFFICE, NOW!"

He turned back to me, and sighed. "At least that explains Ivan's lower power level."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Magic tends to work in funny ways. Depending on the parents involved, the kids will end up with different capacities for magic. If, however, magic starts to travel down a family line, sometimes a majority of one generation's magic will be split with their children, in order to help stop...whatever is coming. Both Jellal and Laxus are extremely powerful, and it's not surprising that Ivan was weaker when his powers skipped ahead to add to theirs."

 _Just like with Toma and Hisui_ , I thought.

By now, Laxus and Jellal were both in the doorway, and Makarov gestured them in. From the look on Laxus's face, he could hear what we were talking about, and had suspicions about Ivan.

Makarov sighed, closing the door and hopping back onto the desk. "Jellal, Laxus, I have some news for you. It turns out that Ivan is...both of your fathers."

" _What_?" Laxus asked, his voice higher than normal as Makarov confirmed his thoughts.

"Ivan was the one who hurt Elle, right?" Jellal asked quietly.

Makarov gave a small, short nod. "I'm sorry that you had to find out he is your father, Jellal. I know what a monster-"

"Don't be," Jellal said, smiling sadly.

"What?" Makarov asked, blinking, just as confused as Laxus and I.

Jellal shook his head. "Don't be sorry. I've always known that my father was a horrible person. My mom used to tell me that she was extremely happy that I didn't resemble him at all. It didn't make sense to me until Elle's talk last year, when she started talking about...consent. But...while Ivan is a horrible person, it also means I get to be related to you two, so I'm okay with it."

Makarov was openly crying, and Laxus pulled Jellal in for a hug and ruffled his hair.

I smiled at them.

"Jellal..." Laxus said. "If possible, I'd like to speak to Jiji privately. Can you carry Elle downstairs for me?"

The eleven-year-old nodded and pulled me onto his back, and I was surprised by how easily he was able to do so, especially since he was still a little smaller than me.

"Are you sure I'm not too heavy?" I asked him.

He shook his head. "If I can pick up Erza while she's wearing armor, you're fine, Elle."

And we went downstairs to join the others and give Laxus and his grandfather privacy.

* * *

"What did you want to speak to me about, Laxus?" Makarov asked.

Laxus hesitated before saying, "I want you to know that you're not going to have any more grandkids."

"What do you mean by that?" Makarov asked.

"Ivan's a eunuch," Laxus said bluntly.

"O...kay..." Makarov said slowly. "Why?"

"I don't know," Laxus admitted.

"Then _how_ do you know?" Makarov asked warily.

"Because I'm the one that did it," Laxus said.

"Why?"

"I DON'T KNOW!"

"You _castrated_ Ivan..." Makarov said slowly. "And you don't know _why_?"

"No! I was hoping you could tell me!"

"Well, WHY WOULD I KNOW?"

"You're the guild master, YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO KNOW EVERYTHING!"

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT GOES ON IN YOUR HEAD, BOY! I don't particularly want to, either."

There was a moment of silence between them before Makarov's expression softened. "Are you alright, Laxus?"

He thought of the things Elle had said. If they were true, and she could eventually forgive him, then... "I think I will be."

"And you still don't know why you did it?" Makarov asked.

"I think it has to do with being a dragon slayer," Laxus admitted. "So I'll probably kinda bring it up with Elle eventually..."

 _But not now_.

* * *

 _He made sure the door behind him was shut before approaching Ivan. He didn't want Elle to hear what was going to happen._

 _Laxus sent a bolt of lightning at his father, shocking him. "Wake up."_

 _"Wha-ah...Laxus?" Ivan hopped up best he could, with his limbs chained together. His face turned into a snarl as realization dawned on him. "You fucking traitor!"_

 _"_ ME? _" Laxus hissed. "I'm not the one who betrayed his nakama. You're a true traitor to Fairy Tail. I'm only returning in kind."_

 _"So that bitch sunk her claws in you, after all," Ivan snarled. "I should've known. I should've just taken that lacrima out of you the instant I saw you come here!"_

 _Laxus stiffened, and not just because of what Ivan had said about Elle. Now that it had merged completely with his body, the only way to take out the lacrima would be to_ kill _him..._

 _"All you're worth to me now is money, Laxus-chan," Ivan finished._

 _Laxus smirked. "That's fine by me!"_

 _He slammed a button on the wall and the panel opened, revealing a variety of weapons. He hit another button, and the chains connecting to Ivan's limbs pulled him apart._

 _Laxus grabbed two weapons and headed to the cell, opening the door. "I told myself that I'd carve a scar on your body for every one on hers," he said darkly. "But we don't have time for that. So we're only going to do two things, instead."_

 _And then he did something that was too sick for him to remember._

 _He finally finished, and stopped himself from choking on his bile. Ivan could never violate Elle like he had mentioned, and that was why he went through it. But now..._

 _"I'll admit," Laxus said, throwing the knife out of the cell. "That was disgusting. But I can still take some enjoyment out of_ this."

 _He pulled up the second weapon he had grabbed, and slammed the sledgehammer down on Ivan's leg, putting an extra boost of his magic in his arms so he used enhanced Dragon Slayer strength._

 _Ivan's leg_ flattened _, and Laxus heard the loudest screaming he'd_ ever _heard in those dungeons._

 _He felt a bit more satisfied at that._

 _Ivan's screams would erase the echoes of Elle's._

 _Laxus pulled back his sledgehammer, and went for the other leg, breaking it just as much, if not more._

 _Ivan continued screaming, and Laxus remembered a conversation he had only heard the end of a few days back, when Elle had told Ivan that she'd be alright with killing him._

 _She had said that she wouldn't be on his level, because she wouldn't take joy in it._

 _Laxus had clearly felt joy in torturing Ivan._

 _So maybe he wasn't on the same level as Elle, or the rest of his nakama. At least he wasn't on Ivan's level; he still cared about his family and friends, and he'd do anything for them. Still, this was just another thing that would make him a monster._

 _He was fine with that. He was hurting Ivan for_ Elle's _sake, after all._

 _He would become a monster a hundred times over for her._

* * *

Before we joined the others in the training room, I asked to speak to Zeref privately.

Zeref joined me and Jellal (who sat me on a table), and also gave me a hug.

"I'm sorry about Mavis," he said, squeezing me gently, and I felt some tears hit my head.

I hugged him back, glad that, because I put him in the lacrima, I could finally hug him when he cried.

"It's alright, Zeref," I said.

 _It's not alright_.

"We'll move on from this, but I have some questions."

Zeref nodded and stepped back, and Jellal began to head for the door.

"Jellal, you should probably stay and hear this, too," I said, turning to him. "Ivan was considering using you for his stupid plans, instead."

Jellal nodded and hopped up on the table beside me.

I turned to look at Zeref. "I was wondering about...the things that Ivan did. Why did he drain magic from me?"

Zeref looked at me, and then sighed, contemplating how to explain this.

"The two most versatile magics in the world are probably Stellar Magics and Slayer Magics. They tend to go hand in hand, as well. Or at least, Stellar Magic and Dragons Slayer Magic."

"Why?" I asked.

He hesitated, and sat on the table across from us.

"I am not the best to explain this to you; the connection between Stellar and Slayer is one best explained by a dragon."

"Yeah, but we don't exactly have access to one," Jellal pointed out.

"I believe Draco could suffice," Zeref said. "Once Lucy is strong enough, we should be fine."

I nodded. "That shouldn't take too long, only a few years or so. I think I'm fine with a _proper_ explanation on the connection for that, but I want to know why Ivan was collecting the magic from me."

Zeref sighed. "As I said, Stellar Magic is extremely versatile, and it's probably one of the closest magics to the One Magic. Connection wise, all Stellar Magic can be intertwined and exchanged, and can be used to power everything."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Stellar Magic, at a pure form, is an enhancer and a connector," Zeref said. "Some could even consider is a support magic. It is used to make things stronger; like the spirit that are summoned, or yourself, in the case of your magics," he nodded at the two of us. "It's another reason why it's so easy for people with Stellar Magics to do Unison Raids. Stellar Magic is on another frequency, a higher frequency than the rest of most magics, and it's what allows it to strengthen everyone else's. Imagine-"

"Etherion," I whispered.

Zeref paused. "What?"

"Last time around," I said quietly. "One of the Dragon Slayers ate pure Etherion in a crystallized lacrima form. The council had fired an Etherion Blast, and the lacrima was made to absorb it. He ended up eating it and he immediately went into Dragon Force, and beat the shit out of a Wizard Saint. Also, I read that the idea for the Council's Etherion came from the telescopal Celestial Battle Spell."

Zeref sighed. "Yes. I'm not quite sure of the entire connection, but I do know that Etherion and pure Stellar Magic is connected on a level which most magics are not. That is something we should ask Draco, because I'm afraid that I will not know. But, as an enhancer, Stellar Magic can be used for just about anything, from a series of rituals to a pure attack."

"So what was Ivan trying to do?" I asked.

Zeref scowled. "He was trying to power something that was better left untouched."

I understood the look on his face and quietly asked. "Was it something you made?"

Zeref clenched his fists and slowly nodded. "The Stellar Animator. Another thing I made to try and bring my brother back...it was meant to bring back the dead. Instead, it controlled the living, and took away all of their free will. I had thought it was completely destroyed, but somehow, Ivan got his hands on either it, or it's blueprints. It's gone now, though, Gildarts completely destroyed it. He's also going to bring back all of your drained magic, Elle. It's yours, and you should decide what to do with it. It could be helpful in the future."

I thought of all the things I had learned about Stellar Magic. I nodded. "We'll see in time."

Jellal pulled me back on his back and we left to join the others.

* * *

Bickslow gasped as Jellal entered the training room with Elle on his back.

His previously dormant blue strings connecting to the Dreyar family were lit with a brilliant glow.

So he knew what was going to be announced before it was.

Unfortunately, before Elle, Jellal or any of the Dreyars announced it, Erik, who's thoughts centered around the new people entering his vicinity, blurted out, "JELLAL AND LAXUS ARE _BROTHERS_?"

Which, of course, threw the entire guild into chaos.

* * *

Eventually, after Laxus and Makarov came down, everyone calmed and accepted the news, and got ready to watch some movies.

I added ' _Teach Erik some tact and also not to reveal news that isn't his_ ' to my To Do list, which would hopefully prevent any sort of chaos like that happening again. I knew that he wasn't _actively_ searching for information like that, but when we had gotten close enough for him to shift his focus directly on us, we (Jellal) was still in the process of reviewing the information. Maybe it wouldn't be as crazy.

Okay, that was pushing it. This was, after all, Fairy Tail. There was bound to be chaos all of the time (and I didn't really have a problem with chaos anyway).

We tried to choose seating, which once again, caused another problem.

You see most (read: everyone) wanted to sit with me, but I wanted to sit in the back. They wanted to sit in the front row so they could see properly.

I just wanted my back to the wall.

Eventually, Laxus settled everything by carrying me over to the wall and prepping up some fluff so I wouldn't hurt my back by leaning against it.

The kids stopped fighting and swarmed me in the back, which left the adults to sit in the front.

The kids watched the movie ( _Peter Pan_ ), and Maggie started making me a wheelchair out of her maker magic, so Laxus wouldn't have to carry me everywhere.

While they did that, I sat and thought about Fantasia. I wasn't kidding when I said that we had to go all out this year, and I wanted to find a way to give Ivan a big 'Fuck You'.

Unfortunately, we couldn't actually say that because children tend to come to the parade.

So I'd have to find something else.

Eventually, as we watched the movie, I fell asleep, and dreamt of flying fairies.

* * *

 **If you want to laugh, google 'British Video on consent'. And I guess if you really want it, I could publish a one-shot of the torture scene, for all of you who are extremely, extremely vicious. And mentioned cacti.**

 **Seriously, like five of you mentioned torturing Ivan with a cactus.**

 **Next chapter should be up Wednesday.**


	87. Family Meetings, Part Two

**Chapter Eighty Seven - Family Meetings, Part Two**

They got the letter late that evening, and Toma went to open it while Ame played with Hisui.

"What is it?" Ame asked, not necessarily paying attention.

"A letter from Ella," Toma said, opening it.

Ame's head shot up, and Hisui squealed. "Ellie-nee! I miss Ellie-nee!"

"Read it," Ame commanded.

Toma cleared his throat. " _Dear Toma, Ame and Hisui,_

 _I apologize for my, and the rest of Fairy Tail's, absence. It's a bit of a long story, and one you deserve to hear in person. Unfortunately, I am unable to visit you for now, and will likely be unable to do so for another month, at least. I will say for now that I was indisposed, and Fairy Tail spent the time searching for me. I wanted to let you know that I am back, and that I am very, very sorry for missing your birthday, Hisui. I promise to visit as soon as I recover._

 _Love, Elle._ "

Toma folded up the envelope and froze at the look on Ame's face. "Ame?"

"We're going."

Toma gulped. "Where?"

"Magnolia. Let's ready a carriage."

"Yay!" Hisui said, clapping as her mother scooped her up. "Ellie-nee!"

Toma sighed. "Yes, dear." There was no stopping it now.

One does not fight the girls of the royal family on this.

* * *

I awoke to the sounds of horns.

I had fallen asleep sitting up, but even then, I felt pretty fine for my position. From the clock on the wall, it was apparent that it was the next day, and all around me, kids were waking up from the fluffy floor.

"Elle, what did you do?" Makarov demanded.

"Me?" I asked, yawning and turning my head to him. "I don't know."

"It's probably the Royal Family," Layla said, getting up from a table. "I recognize the music. I'll bring them in."

"Thank you," I said, smiling.

"The Royal Family?" Mari asked.

"Yeah, remember how I told you that Elle was a Lady?" Laxus grunted, leaning against the wall a few feet away from me. His eyes were on me, as well as all of the children lying against me (or on top of me, for some of them).

"You know you can come closer, you damn tsundere," I teased.

"Not a tsundere," he said quietly, looking away.

I sighed and looked back down at the kids lying next to me. To my surprise, they all seemed pretty sad, too. "What is it, guys?"

"Nothing!" they all cried at once, all looking away in different directions.

The door opened and Hisui ran across the room, straight for me, before the door quickly closed after her.

But I had spotted her father behind her...

 _Why are Toma, Ame, and Layla waiting outside the room_?

"Wait, Hisui-hime!" Lucy cried, standing up and holding out a hand.

Hisui paused. "Lucy-nee?"

"Ellie-nee is recovering," Lucy said quietly and softly. "So we need to be _gentle."_

Hisui nodded and was lead over to me slowly by Lucy. Yukino shifted so Hisui could join her on my lap.

"Ellie-nee!" Hisui cried, climbing into my lap. "Where did your hair go?"

I stroked her hair and smiled down at her. "I cut mine off. I'm just trying a shorter style for awhile, okay, Hisui?"

As I finished speaking, Layla led Toma and Ame into the room.

"Ella, what did you do to your hair?" Toma asked, aghast.

"She's trying a new style, Daddy!" Hisui said.

Ame was crying, and she continued to sob as she got closer and threw her arms around me, but gently.

It finally occurred to me that Hisui was sent ahead so Layla could give Toma and Ame a full review of what happened.

"Hey, I'm back now," I told her quietly as she hugged me.

"I'm so glad you're safe," she said, before pulling away.

"Ame?" a voice whispered, and we all turned to look at Mari, who looked deathly pale.

The color drained away from Ame's face. "M...Mari? Is...is that you?"

"Y...Yeah." Tears started to fill Mari's eyes, and she rushed towards Ame, embracing her. "I missed you so much!"

"I'm so happy you're alive!" Ame said, and began bawling.

The two women stood there, hugging each other and crying.

Hisui looked between me and her mother, and I nudged her. "I'm not going anywhere, sweetie."

She nodded and got off, running to her mother's side. "Mommy, are you okay?" She grasped the hem of Ame's dress, and tugged it a bit.

The two crying women separated, and Ame scooped up her daughter. "Hisui," she said, her voice breaking and tears of joy in her eyes. "I'd like you to meet your Aunt Mari."

"She's beautiful," Mari whispered as Hisui was passed to her.

"I'm sorry, _what_?" Laxus asked, breaking the silence from the rest of the room. "I'm related to the _Queen_?"

"Wait, what?" I asked, turning to him. "You're related to Mari? You mean she's your mother?!"

"Yeah, didn't you know?" he asked, looking at me.

I shook my head. "No, no one told me."

"I mean, didn't you know from last time around...?"

I hesitated. I didn't really want to have to tell this to him, but... "Last time around, I'd never met your mother, Laxus."

Laxus and Makarov's faces paled as they understood the underlining message - that Ivan had either kept her prisoner for another fifteen or so years, or that Mari wasn't alive anymore.

"I don't get it," Mari said, confused. Guess no one filled her in, then.

"Ellie-nee knows the future!" Hisui said proudly.

I shook my head. "Not exactly, Hisui. I know a _possible_ future. That definitely won't happen anymore, I've changed too much. There are some things that are going to happen anyway, but even if I didn't keep messing with events, most of it would be different."

Seeing the confused look on her face, I sighed. She _was_ only three. "I'll explain when you're older, alright? Time travel is a tricky thing for most _adults_ to comprehend."

She nodded and turned back to her aunt, smiling.

"So...you guys are sisters?" I asked, looking between Ame and Mari. Seeing them side by side, I could tell that they had the same facial structure, though Mari's hair was a lot curlier and she didn't have the same type of bangs as Ame did. Instead, it reminded me more of Juvia or Meredy's side-swept bangs later in the series.

"Cousins, technically," Ame corrected. "But we grew up as sisters. One day, Mari traveled across the country to become a guild wizard, and we only communicated through letters, after that. Around fifteen years ago, though, I was told that Mari was declared dead. I missed the funeral, but I still visit her grave once a year. If I had known you were still out there, Mari, I would've conducted a search party after I married Toma."

"It's okay," Mari said, giving her a sad smile. "No one knew I was alive. I'll tell you about it later. Now, I'd like to meet your husband."

As Ame introduced Mari to Toma, I thought over these events. Laxus and Hisui were _cousins._ And I don't think I'd ever really see them interact. Yeah, Laxus fought Zirconis, but he didn't say anything to Hisui. And while he stood up for her when a lot of other wizards did, there was nothing else of note.

I looked at Laxus. "Jeez, you're just related to everybody."

Except me. Thank God for coming from another universe.

 _No, bad thoughts!_ I yelled at myself. I was _not_ heading in that direction just yet.

As Toma and Mari continued talking, Ame came over and sat down next to me, after Juvia scooted over to make room.

Yukino waved shyly at her.

Ame waved back, relaxing against the fluffy wall.

"So you guys are related?" I repeated.

Ame nodded. "Do you remember how I told you that the women in our family are named after gems that match their hair color?"

I nodded.

"Mari is short for Mariganetto, which translates into 'Mali Garnet'."

I nodded. "Which is a yellow gem."

"Yes," Ame said.

"Why did you guys come visit?" I asked.

"In the letter, you said something along the lines of 'I'll visit you when I recover'. That meant you were hurt."

I nodded. "Okay, and thank you for coming. But you guys are the Royal Family, you shouldn't drop your duties just to visit."

"Well, this isn't the only reason," Ame said quietly. "I also have news, and I thought you should hear it right away."

I looked at her. "Oh? What is it?"

"I'm pregnant."

I froze, and blinked a few times, before pulling back and giving her another look. She didn't _look_ pregnant. "How far along are you?"

"Over five months."

" _What_?" My eyes widened. "You don't _look_ that far along."

She actually didn't look pregnant at all.

"I have some aura rings that are meant to hide it," she explained.

"Oh..." I said. "Well, guess what? I have a new type of magic that practically turns me into a midwife, so you should be fine this time around."

"That's good to hear," Ame smiled.

I was a bit in shock, and more than a little worried.

Last time around, Ame had _died._ I managed to save her, but now she was having another _kid._ Would the kid even be born alive? Can I alter the timeline _that_ much?

The world started getting darker, and my head started to hurt. It was getting harder to breath.

A burst of darkness exploded across my vision, and it took me a minute to realize that it was Corvus coming out of the shadows, and not just my blurring vision. He put his hands on my shoulders. "Elle, _breathe_. Your worries are unwarranted."

I took a deep breath and someone handed me a glass of water. I gulped it down and breathed in some more. "Are you sure?"

He nodded. "You don't need to worry about that anymore. I'll explain more later, alright?"

I took another deep breath and nodded.

"Are you alright?" Ame asked, and I realized everyone was looking at me.

Shit, I had just had a panic attack.

"Yeah, I'm...I'm okay now," I said, sighing and leaning back into the wall. "Laxus, could you get me some paper, please?"

He nodded and got up, and everyone went back to what they were doing. A few minutes later, he returned to the room with a lot of paper and some pens. I took them and requipped away the excess ones that I didn't need right now, and tried not to tense as Laxus sat down on the other side of me.

"What are you doing?" Ame asked.

"Planning for this year's Fantasia," I said, leaning over and putting the paper on the floor so I had a flat surface.

At this point in time, Hisui scrambled back over and climbed onto my lap next to Yukino, and Toma and Mari followed over at a sedate pace.

"Toma, I have a request," I said as he got close enough.

"Yes, Ella?" he asked, a little warily.

Though I suppose he had good reason.

At this point, everyone was paying attention to me again.

"As you might know, our annual Fantasia Parade is coming up," I explained.

He gave a short nod.

"Some of the kids here are very attuned to music," I began. "And I was hoping for them to be able to perform a song."

He looked confused. "I'm confused, Ella. What is your request?"

"The thing is," I said, "I'm pretty sure that the Magical Council is going to be pissed as hell when they hear us sing this song. Except this song is 'very important to my recovery'," I said, winking.

I sighed. "Seriously though, it's a message I want to send to the dark guilds."

"What are the lyrics?" he asked.

I passed him the paper. "I circled what they will probably have a problem with, and underlined the main message I want to send."

He nodded and read over it, and everyone was quiet as he looked at it.

"Yes, I can see how the Magic Council might have issues with some of these lyrics. I will make sure you do not get in trouble."

" _Yes_!" I hissed, pumping my arm up in the air.

The kids cheered.

And then Gildarts burst through the door, pissed as hell, and slamming over half of the occupants of the room to the floor.

"Gildarts, control yourself!" Makarov barked. "Your magical pressure is out of control!"

The man took in a shuddering breath, and began to breathe, his magical pressure dying down.

The kids who had hit the ground from the pressure slowly began to sit back up.

"What's wrong?" Makarov asked.

The fury in the man's eyes were imminent. "Those useless pieces of shit that call themselves Rune Knights let Ivan get away!"

There was a gasp, and Mari dropped her glass of water.

"Do we only have glass and china because it adds dramatic effect?" I muttered to Laxus, who was too pissed off to laugh.

Before he could ask any questions, though, Gildarts's attention was redirected to Mari, who was looking at him like the world had stopped.

"Mari?" he whispered.

"Gildarts!" she shouted, tackling him with a smile a mile long.

" _What_ the _fuck_?" Laxus asked, completely bewildered. "Seriously."

"Your mother and Gildarts were partners, back when they were both a team," Makarov explained to Laxus. "To be honest, everyone thought they were going to end up together. And then Ivan got your mother pregnant, and everyone thought she died. Eventually, Gildarts met a woman named Cornelia, and moved on."

Laxus cleared his throat, trying to get Gildarts's attention, who was too busy trying to squeeze the life out of Mari to realize what was going on.

"Yo, Gildarts!" Laxus hollered, and the two of them turned to us.

Gildarts stopped and turned to look at Laxus, who was scowling. "What, kid?"

 _"How_ did Ivan get away?" Laxus hissed. "He shouldn't have been able to do _anything_ on his own."

"According to the Rune Knights, they arrived just as another man was dragging him into a flying airship."

Laxus's glare increased. "When did they arrive?"

"Some forty minutes after you sent off the signal," Gildarts said. "At least, that's what they told me. I think they were lying, and it was more like an hour."

"It shouldn't have taken them more than twenty minutes, tops!" Laxus growled, turning and punching the wall.

His fist left a dent.

"I knew I should've just _stayed_ ," he hissed.

"Well, if Ivan's still out there, we're definitely doing this song now," I said, smirking, and trying to hide the ill feelings I got.

Laxus put his hand on my shoulder and I flinched. As he made to draw the hand away, I grabbed it and put it back on my shoulder.

"You startled me, Laxus, that's all. Don't. Leave, alright?"

He nodded, and I tried to relax.

Toma looked to me. "I will make sure the Magic Council does not interfere, and I will also speak to them about their Rune Knights."

"Your Majesty..." Gildarts said, surprised, having not noticed him. "...Hi. Sorry for, uh...any disrespect..."

"No, I tend to agree with your opinions," Toma said, more than a little angrily. "If you don't do your job, you shouldn't get paid. Hisui, Ame, we're going to have to go, soon."

"Can we visit?" Hisui asked, clinging to me a little more.

"We'll see if we can come see the parade, how about that?" Toma asked.

Hisui nodded, before turning on my lap and wrapping her arms around my neck. "I missed you so much, Ellie-nee! I can't wait to see your parade!"

I smiled down at her, my arms wrapping around her tiny body. "I hope you enjoy it. Now, say goodbye to Laxus - since he's Mari's son, that means that he's your cousin, too."

She nodded and climbed onto Laxus's lap, throwing her arms around his neck, too. "Bye, Laxus-nii!"

Laxus's smile softened as he looked down at her. "Bye, Hisui. We'll see you at the parade."

Ame got up and knelt down to hug me again, her arms wrapping around me gently. "Get better soon, Elle."

"Don't worry, I will," I told her, smiling.

I had to.

Spite was a powerful motivator, after all, and I was overflowing with it right now.

* * *

 **Yeah...none of this should come as a shocker.**

 **Wait, that's a lie. I meant the part about Ivan getting away. You should've totally seen that coming.**

 **As for the rest...yeah, I think only like...two of you had seen that coming and that was because I slipped in some spoilers through PMs. And even then, only one of them knew about the Mari/Ame relationship, and the other one only knew about the past Mari/Gildarts thing.**

 **So yeah. Surprise.**

 **You learn what the song is in the chapter they sing it.**

 **Next chapter should be a speed up/montage thing until Fantasia, and then we should have Fantasia.**


	88. Who Gave Loke Catnip?

**Chapter Eighty Eight - Who Gave Loke Catnip?**

Adjusting was difficult - even with Maggie's wheelchair, I had trouble maneuvering. I couldn't reach what I normally could (at least Laxus was tall) and had trouble doing basic things, like bathing. Instead, I would wait until I got to the guild, and the girls would help me bathe.

If I wanted to get clean, we had to ban all of the girls younger than me. If they were there it just sort of turned into a huge party. Evergreen, Erza, Brandish and Sorano behaved, and Levy probably would too, but if we let them in we had to let everyone else in; and Lucy, Juvia and Millianna could not be trusted in a bathtub. Kagura and Yukino actually behaved pretty well, but it was easier to just ban all of them and be done with it.

Because of this, and because I was building up my magic again, Laxus and I (as well as just about everyone else) were constantly sleeping at the guild - the training room had become a giant bedroom, and Fairy Hills, Valleys and Fields were completely empty. We had only stayed at my house for about a week before giving up and 'permanently' living in the guild with most of the kids until I recover.

Speaking of Laxus, he was still having some difficulty comprehending his extremely large family. Mari had fallen in love with Cana easily, as well as Jellal, and it was obvious that both she and Gildarts still had feelings for each other. Laxus admitted that Mari didn't want to enter the guild when they first arrived after escaping, and from the sound of it (to me at least) she didn't want to come back to find out that Gildarts was in a relationship. That, in addition to being related to the Royal Family, meant he was having issues. He went from him, Makarov, and Porlyusica and then to him, Makarov, Porlyusica, Jellal, and Mari, and then to him, Makarov, Porlyusica, Jellal, Mari, Gildarts, Cana, Toma, Ame, and Hisui. Plus, Ame was pregnant.

The Heartfilias were also staying in town - with Fantasia coming up, and Layla and Lucy clinging to me, (as well as Lucy and Brandish joining us for the sleepover parties) they ended up at the guild a lot.

I will admit, I was spoiled. But after the few months I'd had, I think I deserve it.

Most of my time was spent snuggling up to the kids, who would literally _fight_ over who spent time with me, so much so that we had to create a schedule.

And by fight, I mean _fight._ Lucy, especially, had taken to challenging just about everyone so she could constantly be by my side, and after watching her go extremely overboard (trying to use _Urano Metria_ against Orga was _way_ too far), we told her that she'd have to follow the rotation schedule or she wouldn't be able to spend time near me at all.

This made most of the kids, especially the new ones and/or the younger ones who weren't close to being powerhouses yet, much happier. It also gave some of the more idiotic (read: tsundere-ish) boys an excuse to spend time with me.

Like Gray. I've hit him twice so far, for being an idiot. I had hoped that with having his entire family in his life, he wouldn't be as moody as last time around, but he still seemed to be going through a phase.

I just hope that this phase ends at some point. In his other life, it hadn't, and he turned into a huge ass brooder.

Lyon isn't much better either, to be honest, but at least he spends time with me on his own accord.

We spent a lot of time planning out Fantasia, and I helped the best I could (even though I wasn't able to do a lot). We started off by making floats, and painting them.

A paint war didn't really erupt this time, though I think the kids wanted it too, because of how longingly they looked at the paint. It seemed as if they didn't want to do it because they didn't think they could include me.

Even when fighting broke out between Gray and Lyon, and it nearly escalated into an out of control paint war, it died down just as fast when Ultear glared at them and they guiltily looked away from her and me.

(Honestly, I think the only one who would let their rivalry get to them would be Loke and Corvus).

Of course, I didn't care, so I started a paint war anyway.

By the time we were done, the kids were happy, we were all covered in paint, and we'd have to restart most of our floats...if not all of them.

Oh well.

At least paint is easy to get out of my hair now, seeing as it's mostly nonexistent.

The nights were difficult, at first. Laxus felt like he shouldn't be able to be by my side, and I also felt like he should be...but was also still a bit scared of him.

Because my body fucking _sucks._

So we were dealing with that, the best we could. After a bit more than a week of sleeping in the same bed together, I began to relax more around him. Now, I only tensed if he surprised me.

Though there was still a bit of an underlying fear.

As I said, after that first week, we gave up at staying at my house (because it was unnecessarily difficult) and ended up sleeping in the guild with everyone else, and now I slept with Laxus by my side and a small pile of fairy children.

* * *

We finished making the floats, and I played the song we were going to sing for the kids. Makarov just about had a stroke when he heard it. I didn't think it was _that_ bad, but yeah, some of the dicks on the council probably won't react the best, which is why I basically asked Toma for immunity.

All the kids who wanted to sing in the parade sang the song for me, and I picked out the four best ones to perform it live; Erigor, Lyon, Cana, and Macbeth, who had joined Monsters in My Mind (with Erigor, Jellal, Bickslow, Freed and Laxus).

Erik refused to sing at all, and seemed to have joined me in the 'Not Singing Group'. Sorano decided to become a solo singer (the first one to choose that), and Sawyer joined Between the Lines with Nab, Jet, Droy, and Wally. While Richard didn't sing, he sort of monitored them, and helped out with their playing, probably because his brother was in it.

I think that Orga (whose singing wasn't as bad as it would be eventually) wanted to join Monsters in My Mind, but if he did, he'd be the youngest in the group. Right now, the youngest was Jellal, who was eleven. Orga was seven, over ten years younger than Erigor, the oldest, who would be nineteen in December.

So instead he joined Making Memories, which kind of turned into the default band.

I swear, if I hear any of those damn kids making a Hufflepuff joke...

It was definitely by far the biggest house/band.

Then, we started choreographing to the song. Both magically, and physically, especially now that the floats were done.

I wanted to _dance_ and _fight_.

That, in addition to the lyrics, should definitely send a message to Ivan and the others. Technically, I shouldn't be able to walk for another few months, or might even end up permanently handicapped (like walking with a limp) instead of healing properly. Instead, I'll be moving like crazy in about a month.

 _Hahaha, fuck you, Ivan._

Then, we used magic in tune with it; using our magic to help enhance the effects and the lyrics to the song.

The kids were having a lot of fun, using their magic to the song, and they also liked dancing with someone else...when they weren't too busy fumbling or blushing over their partner.

Okay, so maybe I was playing with some pairings.

Including my own.

Laxus, my partner, _still_ couldn't dance.

Jellal and Erza were extremely cute together, as were Gray and Juvia (I might have _demanded_ that they pair up for the dance, not that any of them actually seemed to have any objections).

Loke was having the time of his life, and was getting more than a little out of control with all of the free will I was giving him on the choreography for the project.

The reason why? It turns out Millianna decided to share some catnip with him when she realized that Loke was technically a lion.

Which made him get _really_ passionate about dance (and also really cuddly with Lucy, who didn't really mind. Corvus did, though, which started another guild brawl).

Every once in awhile, when Loke's passion for dance got really bad (apparently catnip can last awhile if you give a shit-ton to a Celestial Spirit), Corvus would open his gate on his own, sock Loke in the face, and then disappear back to the Spirit World. Loke would chase after him, back to the Spirit World, and we would all get the chance to relax.

Erigor was the lead singer for the song, with Lyon and Macbeth as backup (with the exception of the chorus, where they would all sing) and Cana would accent the lyrics, as the only female of the group.

Since they didn't really have to dance, the four of them were all very happy with their situation, and were spending time practicing their instruments and rehearsing their performance.

For now, since I still couldn't walk, Laxus was practicing our dance with Mari, so they could try to bond. It was actually working pretty well, because Mari was apparently very patient, and was walking Laxus through the steps.

According to Loke, I picked up choreography pretty quickly (though he apparently based this off of how I adapted to hand-to-hand combat with Phoenix and Corvus, so I don't know how accurate it is) and decided that I would apparently be fine with what he had planned for my role.

I decided not to question him. There was no point.

Macao also took me aside while we were planning, and asked me a few questions, and I gave the green-light for his own plans.

And then I was well enough to start dancing...though not really. It was only because while I was standing I was also constantly pushing _Saturn's Healing Winds_ through my legs, in order to give me enough strength to stand.

Phoenix wasn't exactly happy with what I was doing, but I refused to back down. _This_ was what we were going to do.

He said that, if I was to do things the right way, I should've been fine by the end of October. But because of the way that I was doing it, he said that I'd probably have to add more recovery time after the parade in order for me to get completely better.

I agreed - I didn't want it to get worse, or be unable to heal properly - but I was going to deliver this message, even if it _was_ stupid of me.

I started off slowly; standing a bit each day, and then walking, and finally, running.

And then I had five days to learn the dance.

* * *

I glared at Loke, standing in the middle of the room with my hands on my hips. "You better have made this simple."

"Don't worry, you'll be fine!" he said arbitrarily.

"Don't push her too hard," Corvus said, leaning against the wall and observing. "She's still recovering."

"Don't tell me what to do!" Loke yelled at him, which made Corvus get all defensive.

"I'll do what I want!" Corvus replied.

Phoenix sighed. "Guys, _focus_ ," he pushed them apart. "We're trying to teach Elle, here, we only have a few days, remember?"

"Elle should be fine!" Loke said, waving off the concerns. "I'm honestly more concerned about her partner."

All of us slumped over. "Yeah, you're probably right there."

"I am right _here,_ you know," Laxus said, sitting on the floor a few steps away, watching from the sidelines. His mother was giggling behind him.

"You're supposed to be on my side!" he said to her.

She shook her head. "Sorry, Laxus, but you're a hopeless dancer. You're too stiff, and it's so _weird._ "

Laxus huffed. " _Lots_ of people are stiff."

"Not wizards," Mari retorted.

I was confused. "What do you mean?"

She looked over at me. "Wizards tend to be better at musical things. The rhythm of music resonates with magic itself - imagine as if everyone's magical energy gave off a different magical sound. It's one reason why Enno's magic can get so powerful if she finds the right song - the right frequency to connect everyone at that moment. It also why it's pretty easy to sense another wizards' magical power. In addition to that, because of the way that most wizards fight, they generally become more and more graceful, and become better and better dancers. Also, because of the way that our lungs change in order to absorb more Ethernano, mages tend to have more powerful voices."

I stared at her, wondering if this was true, and remembering how Zeref said that Stellar Magic was on a higher frequency.

I had liked to dance and sing in my last life (though I wasn't very good at either). But I haven't really tried to sing since I arrived, with the exception of 'Happy Birthday' every once in awhile, and some other things. But I never really _tried_.

When I was younger, I had wondered if I could be a pop star.

...When I was younger, I wanted to be a lot of things. A veterinarian, a CIA agent, an astronaut... It literally changed almost every week. Eventually, I realized that I probably wouldn't be able to be any of those (even the semi-more realistic goals) and understood I'd probably be working in an office my whole life.

I much preferred being a mage.

"So what, maybe I'm not graceful!" Laxus said. "I don't see you getting on Gildarts's case. He's not graceful, he just breaks everything he touches!"

"He can still _dance,"_ Mari pointed out. "You know that he's going to be my partner for the parade. I've practiced with him and I've practiced with you, Laxus, and he does a much better job; which is saying something, because Gildarts is very clumsy."

"He's also older, so he's had more practice," Laxus pointed out.

Loke sighed. "Can we _please_ get back to work, people? Elle needs to learn her choreography."

They sighed and we went back to work, the other kids slowly trickling in from their regular training.

I had been training my magic, too - small things at first, until I got stronger and stronger. As far as I could tell, most of my magic power was still there, I just had to fine tune it. For instance, I could brute-force my way out of most stuff, but I didn't have any precision, so that's what I was focusing on (especially because precision was a key point in using _Saturn's Healing Winds)._

I would make tiny pseudo-stars out of Venus and Mars, and tiny statues out of Mercury or Uranus or Earth. I also spent time trying to combine Jupiter and Saturn and Neptune into miniature storms in my hand. Orga liked playing with those a lot (when I was able to make them successfully). As I continued doing such things, like shaping Mars and Neptune into solid shapes (which was hard, as they were constantly moving, being plasma and liquid (versus Venus, which could actually be solidified)), I also practiced some other spells.

The kids especially loved to play with my creations. Orga and Juvia really liked the storms, and most of the boys played with the statues I made. Lucy, Jellal, and Yukino and Sorano especially liked the tiny stars of Venus, especially when Brandish used her power to make them bigger.

I noticed that magic was coming to me a lot easier, and Porlyusica finally told me why. "Silly girl, you've finished your childhood. You're maturing, and puberty will probably start sometime soon."

I blinked at her. "What?"

"Your Magical Overload is _gone_. In fact, it seems to have vanished around your birthday, which is very good indeed. If you had been constantly drained of magic while you still had it, it could have been _extremely_ detrimental to your health. That's why we didn't put the bracelets back on. I thought you understood that."

I noticed she didn't say 'cuffs' and I was grateful for that. Honestly, I just thought that they hadn't put them back on yet because I was still recovering from my magic draining and because it would remind me of my time in Ivan's possession.

But instead...I wouldn't have to wear those again.

I could feel my nose start to burn, and my eyes well up, and tried my hardest to _stop_ because there was no way I was going to cry over something as stupid as this.

I was never going to wear a bracelet again.

* * *

"Okay, so apparently Elle is _not_ good at picking up choreography," Loke announced.

"Shut up!" I yelled, punching him. "I haven't been able to stand in around three months, I think I'm doing pretty fucking well."

"You're doing well," he said, backing away in case I started hitting him again. "But you're not _good."  
_

 _"_ THEN SIMPLIFY IT!" I shouted.

He slumped over. " _Fine_."

I rolled my eyes and sat back down as Loke decided to plan out a new dance.

So apparently I wasn't that good at dancing in either life.

But maybe I could sing in this one?

I'd have to try it out eventually.

* * *

 **I'm switching talents with Elle here. I wish I could sing well (I can't :(, but Elle will be decent and unique (not exactly _good_ , though, just one of those unique voices that people either love or hate)) and I, personally (me, Becky, the real narnia, author-chan) also pick up choreography at a _scarily_ fast pace. If it's not to complicated (aka, nothing I'd have trouble doing physically) I can pick it up really quickly, and a lot of the time my musical theater teacher or musical directors would use me to help teach other kids.**

 **I can also do an almost perfect imitation of Britney Spears' singing voice. But it's not my real voice and it doesn't exactly sound _good_.**

 **I originally wasn't going to have Elle have a good voice, but I also didn't mean for music to become such an integral part of the story, and you'll understand why I gave her a decent voice when she finally sings. :D**

 **Also, ANNOUNCEMENT TIME: As some of you know, I am Jewish. Chanukah (the fucking internet says I'm spelling it wrong but they're the wrong ones THIS IS HOW YOU SPELL IT) starts on the evening of the 12th. That's when the next chapter of Ripples will be up.**

 **I do not have enough time or content to post a chapter of Ripples everyday, but I do have some saved up content. Because of this, I will be posting something everyday. Likely, over the spectrum of Chanukah; 3 chapters of Ripples, 1 or 2 chapters of Dreams of Dragons, and several oneshots. Possibly the start of a seven or eight shot that I'm around half-way done with.**

 **Just want the ones of you who don't follow me to know. And yes, they will all be Fairy Tail.**


	89. We're Unstoppable

***On the first night of Chanukah the-real-narnia gave to me:**

 **Ellaxus and singing and dancing!***

 **I hope I didn't hype this up too much.**

 **The song is linked on Wattpad, and on the first line of it being sung on AO3 and Quotev. IF you're on Fanfiction, you need to look it up: it's called UNSTOPPABLE by THE SCORE. All of The Score's music is extremely incredible, by the way, and I suggest you check it out. And yes, I took out a verse.**

* * *

 **Chapter Eighty Nine - We're Unstoppable**

The Three Stooges were the ones to bring it up.

"You tell her," Corvus hissed.

"No, you tell her," Loke hissed back, shoving Corvus into a wall.

"That's it!" Corvus shouted, springing for Loke. As those two idiots rolled around on the floor, I turned to Phoenix, who was looking at them with an exasperated expression.

"Phoenix, what do they need to tell me?" I asked him.

The two on the floor stopped fighting, mid-position, staring at Phoenix and I.

Phoenix sighed. "Please remember that we can view things for the Spirit World. So we know why you _really_ cut your hair."

"O...kay," I said, staring him down. Loke and Corvus were still in an extremely uncomfortable position, staring up at us.

"The thing is, Elle..." Phoenix started. "You want to send a message, but...I think the lack of your hair gets in the way."

I looked away. "I know. I'm going to ask Cancer to grow it out...at least for the parade."

"And after that?" Corvus asked, shoving Loke down and standing next to his brother. "You know that they'll probably still keep tabs on you."

I nodded. "I know. So...I'll probably keep it out. Maybe change my style a bit."

"You're going to wear bangs?" Loke asked incredulously.

I punched him. "Hell, no! _Fuck_ bangs. I mean like a ponytail, or something. So it's out of the way."

"But you're growing your hair back?!" Phoenix asked happily.

"Yes," I said warily. "Why the hell are you so excited?"

"Since we're contracted to Lucy, we tend to be connected with her emotions, which is really helpful in case of emergency, or if she is scared. She _really_ wants you to have long hair again, and I guess you could say it's rubbing off on us," Corvus explained, sighing.

"I don't see you jumping up and down," I mentioned.

"Yes, but I'm also not Phoenix."

"Ah," I acknowledged. "Point taken."

* * *

The next day, the day of Fantasia, we took a break and were going to take a nap. Because of the time that Fantasia was happening, most of us were going to nap beforehand, and then take another nap after the parade before waking up normally for tomorrow.

Before everyone had a chance to sit down though, Erik asked to speak to me privately, and I wheeled my chair into another room so we could talk. I was saving my energy for the dance later (I _still_ wasn't really supposed to be putting support on my legs).

"What's up, Erik?" I asked.

After activating the runes that stop sound (Freed had put them up between each doorway to keep sound to a specific room if needed), he turned back to me and took a deep breath.

"I think you should get Cancer to change your hair back," he said.

I opened my mouth to protest and explain I was doing it anyway, but he held up a hand. "My hearing, remember? Look, I overheard you and the Celestial Spirits talking about your hair, but it's more than that, too. I might not be able to hear _your_ thoughts, but I can hear Laxus's."

I closed my mouth, wondering where he was going with this.

"I don't think I need to tell you that everyone loves your hair – you've already figured that out by now," he continued. "I…I saw what Laxus had done to you…in his memories."

I bit my tongue to stop from interrupting.

"I punched him for it," Erik said. "And…I honestly hated him for it. But hearing his thoughts…no one can punish him more than he can. He… _really_ …hates himself now. And that's part of the reason I think I forgave him." He locked eyes with me.

"From Laxus's memories," Erik continued. "You've played with his hair a lot. And he's kinda wanted to do the same to you, but he's never done it. Now that people have hurt you by grabbing your hair, he thinks that he'll never get a chance to do it. I just think…maybe you should grow it back and let Laxus play with it while we nap…"

I was surprised. That was decidedly more thought out than I thought it would be, and…even though the thought of letting _anyone_ touch my hair when it's long – even just thinking of Cancer, I had felt some anxiety – it might be something that could help both of us move on.

I've been forcing myself to spend time with Laxus until I relaxed; I could do the same with my hair.

I nodded. "Alright, I'll think about it. Send Lucy out, please."

He smiled at me and went back inside, and Lucy came out.

"Yeah, Ellie-nee?" she asked.

I sighed. "Can…you summon Cancer, please?"

Her face lit up, and before she could say anything, Cancer had already appeared.

"I didn't summon you yet!" Lucy said, surprised.

"I just _had_ to fix that 'do, ebi!" Cancer said, running behind me and snapping his fingers. "What are the rules?"

"No bangs," I said.

He sighed, but started snipping, and I felt the hair grow down my back.

Even though I felt more comfortable with it shorter, I felt more like myself with it longer, though I could pretty much _feel_ my paranoia going up a notch.

Lucy smiled at me. "You look happier, Ellie-nee!"

"I do?" I asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, even though you're smiling, they've all been sad. But now it's a bit better!"

I laughed and carefully moved my legs so I could pull her into a hug on the uncomfortable wheelchair.

"Thanks, Lucy," I whispered, stroking her hair – no wonder I liked longer hair, if I always played with it absentmindedly.

She giggled and rushed into the training room, Cancer fading back to the Celestial Spirit world, and Laxus entered the room to push me into the next one. A look of delight crossed his face, before it fell back into a resigned compliance.

"Your hair..." he trailed off, coming behind me to push me. I tried not to tense up. He knew better than to touch it right now, and I wasn't ready.

Still though, I felt vulnerable with him behind me and my curtain of hair between us.

I nodded. "Yeah. It's part of the message. Now come on, we're going to need a lot of sleep for tonight."

I wasn't going to let him play with it just yet - I felt I should adjust first - but I would eventually.

* * *

Virgo adjusted the dress one last time, and checked her handiwork. "You look beautiful, Elle-sama," she said in her same, slightly monotonous voice.

"Thank you, Virgo," I said. "Are you going to watch the parade?"

"We will all be watching from the Spirit World," Virgo said. "We are hoping to get a glimpse of Ivan and the others, maybe even find a way to catch them."

"If you can't catch them, but you still see their reaction to our performance, can you put it on a memory card, please?"

"Of course, Elle-sama."

Virgo pushed me out in the wheelchair, and we went up to the front of the floats. Laxus gave me a small smile, the first I'd seen in awhile. "Elle."

I smiled up at him. "Hey, Laxus."

He pulled me out of the chair and carried me up to the platform, where I sat on a throne, of all things. Loke said it's supposed to be symbolic, especially since I am officially a Lady.

So I was to start out on the chair, and eventually end up dancing and fighting with Laxus, who was dressed as a Knight. No helmet, though, just chain-mail and a sword.

 _Apparently_ , it was _supposed_ to look a lot cooler, but we couldn't do that because 'It's all your fault, Elle. You can't dance'. At least that's what Loke said to me right before I punched him.

At the front of the float were Erigor, Macbeth, Lyon and Cana, readying up their instruments.

"Are you ready?" Laxus asked.

I nodded determinedly. "Yeah."

The floats began moving, and Lyon and Macbeth started playing the song.

Erigor began to sing. " _There's a mo-ment...in your bones, when...when the fire takes ohhhhh-ver..._ "

On the word 'fire', a large explosion of fire (but not too large) blew around the edges of all of the floats, finally coating us all in light (when before we had been hidden in shadows).

We were on the streets now, and the people on the sidelines were cheering for us. More than that, I also saw Jacob with a camera crew, and internally smirked as I realized that Toma had taken everything one step further and decided to air this on the LS.

Damn, I really have to fix that name.

" _Blood is runnin'...heart is pumpin'_ ," on the first one, an illusion of a river of red spread out from the floats, and the 'heart is pumping' was followed by an illusion of a beating heart and a heartbeat.

" _As the battle gets clo-ser..._ "

At this, Laxus, in his knight costume, came closer to me, and a pseudo army of ghosts rushed at us.

" _Oooooooo-ooooo-oooooooooo-oooooh._ " Cana sang.

" _They can say what they want now_..." Laxus cast _Lightning Dragon's Heavenward Halberd_ at them, and they dispersed into the air.

" _Oooooooo-ooooo-oooooooooo-oooooh._ " Cana repeated.

" _Cause we'll be screamin' out:_ "

Now Lyon and Macbeth joined in, and their voices reverberated up and down Magnolia, as we had microphone lacrimas attached to each float. At this point, one by one, a member of Fairy Tail would shoot their magic up into the air, to create effects.

" _We can be hero-es, everywhere we go! We can have all, that we ever want."_

If you couldn't guess, this was the verse I thought would mess with the council. Cana was joining in now, accenting the chorus with, _"Ooohs."_

 _"Swingin' like Ali, knockin' out bodies, standin' on top like a cham-pion!"_

 _"oooooooooo-oooooooooh._ "

On " _keep your...sil-ver, give me that gold!_ " another shadowy monster from nowhere attacked Laxus and I, pinning us down.

" _You'll re...member, when I say: We can be hero-es, anywhere we go, keepin' us down is impossible."_

All this time we were 'struggling' to throw off the monster, but on 'keeping us down is impossible', I _stood_ up. And when the next lyrics came, I pushed the monster to kingdom come, blasting it into oblivion.

" _We're unstoppable!_ "

As those words repeated, I could see them sparkling in the sky, as they were written out in fire so everyone could read them.

As the musical interlude played, Laxus and I danced with monsters, in a mix between fighting with them and dancing; literally dancing, Laxus was tossing me around and everything as magical effects soared through the sky and we used our magic to destroy our attackers.

The crowd was cheering, and I suddenly realized what we'd be doing come April, for our other Fantasia.

The musical interlude began to finish, and Erigor picked up the lyrics. " _They can say what they want now..."_

" _Ohhh~Ohhh~ohhhhhhhhh_ " Cana sang.

" _We'll be screamin' out!"_ the music picked up, and then all at once, it stopped. At the same time, Simon used all of his magic to cause a complete blackout of the entire block.

He brought it back all at once as the next lyrics started.

" _We can be hero-es, everywhere we go, we can have all that we ever want!_ "

As the chorus continued, we had a virtual party on our floats, shooting off magic in to the sky and candy and streamers into the crowd.

" _Swingin' like Ali, knockin' out bodies, standin' on top like a champion!"_

Swinging around with Laxus made me feel free, and for the first time since before Ivan, I felt light-hearted, for once.

" _Keep your sil-ver, give me that gold_ _, you'll re...mem-ber, when I say_ :"

Looking at Laxus, illuminated by the light of the fireworks, I knew that it had finally happened.

" _We can be heroes, everywhere we go, keepin' us down is impossible._ "

I had forgiven him.

 _"'Cause we're unstoppable_."

We began to ready our magic, as the song was almost over.

" _Woaaaaaaaah!...We're unstoppable_."

Laxus and I began to resonate together, our magic intertwining, and I remembered what Zeref had said about Stellar Magic.

 _"Woah...We're unstoppable. We're unstoppable."_

The music hit a crescendo and then halted to a stop, and our lightning magic clashed and exploded in the sky, spelling out the words ' _FAIRY TAIL_ ' in the colors of our magic _._

* * *

The parade was a success, and we finished it up with another song by the Score, the same band, a song called _Never Going Back,_ which starred some of the older couples rather than Laxus and me. We faded into the background with the rest of the guild and cast magic.

That song is probably going to stress out the council, too.

" _Shrug us off our shoulders_

 _We don't do what they told us_."

Yeah. Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeefinitely going to stress out the council.

Mari and Gildarts, Macao and Enno, and Ur and Silver were the ones dancing. As it ended, they spun around, rotating positions on the float (Mari and Gildarts were the main stars) and Macao and Enno ended up at the front of the float.

The music stopped, the parade was over, but we didn't leave.

Macao cleared his throat, and the microphone lacrima attached to his shirt activated.

"Enno Lasaro," Macao said. "I've know you for years, now. When I first laid eyes on you, I thought you were the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. I still think that, and if possible, you've somehow gotten even more beautiful since then. A little over three years ago, you took me out on a date, and I was still stumped on how we went together. To be honest, I'm still a bit confused on how I managed to get an amazing woman like you. Enno, I love you with all of my heart."

He dropped to one knee, and pulled out a box.

Enno was crying, streams of tears running down her face, her hands covering her mouth.

"Enno," Macao continued. "Will you make me the happiest idiot in the world, and be my wife?"

She threw her arms around him, shouting "YES!" and the whole guild (plus the crowd watching) burst into cheers.

Laxus looked over at me, still holding my hand as he had the entire parade. "There's no way that Macao came up with that speech on his own."

I shrugged. "It was pretty decent when I first read it. But yeah, I might've done some editing."

"I liked the 'happiest idiot' part," Laxus said.

I snorted. "Oh, that was _all_ Macao. I didn't touch that line."

The parade ended, and we all headed back towards the training room. Laxus and I walked off our float together.

We joined everyone else in the training room, where we would nap/sleep until morning. And Hisui ran for us immediately. "Ellie-nee! And Laxus-nii!"

I scooped her up as she reached us. "Hey, Hisui. Did you enjoy the parade?"

She nodded eagerly. "It was so pretty! And you and Laxus-nii were so cute together!"

She looked at us innocently, cocking her head. "When is Laxus-nii going to do the thing they did?"

"What thing?" I asked warily.

"You know, the thing at the end! With them!" Hisui pointed at Macao and Enno, who were kissing one another.

I stayed frozen, trying to comprehend what I thought she was saying. Laxus wasn't much better.

Ame sighed and took Hisui from me. "Elle, the parade was lovely, but I'm afraid we need to get going, alright? Come visit us when you're better."

She mouthed, 'I'm sorry.', and returned with Hisui to some guards, and Laxus and I were still frozen.

We were still holding hands, too.

"Onee-sama? Onii-sama?"

"Yes, Juvia?" I croaked, as I turned to look at her.

Her eyes were focused on our hands, and she looked up at us, her face twinkling with delight. "Are you two finally getting together?"

"Huh?" I asked, my eyes widening.

"Like Enno-san and Macao-san? Or Rex-san and Maggie-san?"

I blinked at her, almost feeling my heart stop. "What?"

Her eyes were sparkling. "Erik-san and Bicks-san said that you love each other!"

I stared at her. " _What_?"

"Are you finally going to start dating, Onee-sama!?" Juvia screeched, and got everyone's attention.

"They're getting together? ELLAXUS IS CANON?" Freed began to wheeze heavily. "It worked! IT WORKED! Thank you, Benzaiten! THANK YOU!"

"What the hell is going on?" I asked, looking around. "Who is Benzaiten?"

Laxus sighed. "Freed has been making shrines to Benzaiten, the goddess of love, throughout the year. We keep finding them popping up all over the place."

"Yeah, and you keep using _my things_ to make tiny Elles and Laxuses!" Evergreen snapped.

"Your material is best!" Freed retorted, before cackling. "And I'M NOT SORRY!" Freed screeched. "ELLAXUS IS FINALLY CANON!"

"He makes _shrines?"_ I asked.

"He writes stories, too," Erza said. "They're very good. My favorite is the one where Laxus is the god of thunder and Elle stumbles upon him when he's hurt..."

I blinked at them. Freed writes _fanfiction?_ About _us_?

"Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss!" Lucy started, and a few other kids joined in.

"ENOUGH!" I yelled.

I sighed and put my head in my hands. I had only just forgiven Laxus, after all, and I had never kissed anyone in my last life. This would be my first kiss.

But I _did_ want it to be with Laxus.

"Aren't you going to kiss?" Freed whined.

I glared at him, especially as other people joined in on the complaints. "THE FIRST TIME I KISS LAXUS WON'T BE IN FRONT OF YOU!" I shouted, before flushing red.

The kids all froze, their jaws dropping, before they started cheering.

I turned to Laxus. "Come on, let's go home."

He wrapped his arms around me and I teleported us to my house automatically.

"Come on, let's get ready for bed," I said, kicking him out of my room and changing. I heard Laxus changing clothes on the other side of the door, and he entered the room as soon as I had finished and quietly said, "Done".

"Did you really mean what you said?" he asked, opening the door.

"I've said a lot of things, Laxus, you're going to have to be more specific," I replied, rearranging the bed so we could be comfortable. This would be the first time since the first week that we'd be staying here, rather than having a slumber party in the training room, but I couldn't deal with the kids tonight.

"'The first time'," he repeated, and I froze, hovering over the bed. I should probably sit down by now, too, for my legs. But I couldn't move. Laxus continued talking. "You said, ' _the first time_ I kiss Laxus'. Does that mean you're planning on kissing me more than once?"

 _Shit_.

I felt my heart start to speed up, and it only got worse as I realized that Laxus could probably hear it.

"That depends," I said quietly, staring down at the pillows, my back still to him. "Do you _want_ to kiss me more than once?"

"I do…" he said slowly, and I whirled around and looked at him, my chest filling with hope. "But…"

"But _what_?" I asked, more than a little harshly. There was always a 'but', wasn't there?

He looked away. "But after what I did….I don't deserve you."

"Dammit, Laxus, I _forgive_ you!" I shouted, finally saying it.

He froze and it looked like tears came to his eyes, but then he lowered his gaze. "It doesn't matter, because I still don't deserve you."

"Argh! Don't be stupid!" I yelled.

"I'm not!" he yelled back. "Because I _don't_ deserve you!"

"So WHAT?" I shouted.

He froze, and his mouth dropped open. "What?"

"I think you deserve me, and you think you don't," I repeated. "So _what_? It doesn't _matter_! If _either_ of us are right or wrong, because I love you, you damned tsundere, and _I want you_."

He stayed frozen then.

"Maybe you do deserve me, maybe you don't. Maybe _I_ don't deserve _you_. But we still chose one another anyway, so it doesn't matter. It _shouldn't_ matter!"

His eyes stayed focused on mine.

"I _want to be with you_ , Laxus," I said. "Do you want to be with me?"

"Yes," he whispered.

"Then _kiss me_ ," I commanded.

So he did.


	90. Love is in the Air

***On the fourth night of Chanukah the-real-narnia gave to me:**

 **Lots and lots of shipping...***

 **Okay...time for...**

 **The-Real-Narnia's beliefs about sexuality and love!**

 **As someone who is attracted to both genders, I believe that you can't solely be attracted to one gender (though I know that some straight and gay people believe the same thing about bisexuality). So, I've adopted the thought of - I like person. Person boy? Okay. Person girl? Okay. Okay? Okay.**

 **Some of the couples in here are not gay or lesbians because of how they 'act' or whatever. Some people just like who they like, and maybe they get along because of other things. And if someone who is gay or a lesbian ends up acting like a stereotypical type, don't be mean or make fun of them. Yeah, more often then not, they don't fit the stereotype, but people still might. Someone might act in the stereotypical 'gay' way, and not be gay, and someone might act in the stereotypical 'straight' way, and not be straight (is there even a stereotypical 'straight'? to me society just sort of screams 'default'). To me, it's unrelated.**

 **Also, fun fact: Originally, Elle was going to be two years younger (7/17 vs 9/19) when the story started, and she'd only be one year older than Cana (rather than three). And I was going to do some Cana x Elle stuff before Ellaxus became a thing.**

 **I dumped that idea though.**

 **Also yeah...I was a weird kid...so I thought about the type of shit Elle did...**

* * *

 **Chapter Ninety - Love is in the Air**

Kissing is weird.

His lips are warm, and soft on mine, and as it continued, it felt like fireworks, like electricity, like-

"What the hell, Laxus?" I asked, shoving him away.

"What? What did I do?" he asked, panicked.

"Control your magic, you shocked me!"

He froze, looking absolutely terrified. "I'm sorry!"

I rolled my eyes and pulled him closer, giving him a smaller peck on the lips. "Baka. Do you remember what you told me about being by my side? 'Now that you've got me, you're not getting rid of me'. Just try to keep your magic under control, alright?"

I pulled back and laughed. "It's actually kinda funny. In my old world, people would say that kissing is like fireworks. Come on, Laxus."

He wrapped his arms around me and we climbed into the bed. He pulled me into his side, and I relaxed into the comfort of his arms.

"Goodnight, Laxus," I said to him.

"Goodnight, Elle," he said by my ear.

* * *

We awoke the next morning and headed to the guild, Laxus continually apologizing for forgetting to grab the wheelchair last night as we teleported away.

I rolled my eyes at him.

"Don't be stupid," I told him, tightening my arms around his neck and snuggling into his chest more.

After all...I had to rest my feet...right?

He sighed and continued to the door, before I shouted, "Wait!"

He stopped in front of the guild doors. "What is it?"

I gathered some light energy in my hand, and aimed at the door. " _Beams of Venus_!" The blast of light shot from my hand and slammed into the guild doors, banging them open.

"Elle, what the hell was that for?" Laxus asked.

I shrugged. "I haven't kicked open a door in months. I'm sure they're feeling neglected."

"They're doors," Laxus deadpanned. "You can't even walk, Elle, what the fuck?"

"Laxus-sama! Ella-sama!" Freed yelled, running for us in joy. He stopped in front of us, practically vibrating in excitement. The other kids were all watching us with anticipation.

"Will you kiss now?" Freed asked.

"Just because I kissed Laxus alone doesn't mean I'll do it in front of you!" I shouted at him.

"K-kissed….L-Laxus?" he stammered, his eyes lighting up before they rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed on the ground.

We both stared at him. "I think we really need him to go see Porlyusica. He has a problem."

"Onee-sama?"

I turned my head to see Juvia. "What is it, darling?"

"Are you and Onii-sama really together?" she asked.

I smiled at her, curling into Laxus's chest a bit more and looking up at him with a smile on his face. "Yeah, Juvia. We're together."

At that announcement, over half of the kids in the guild started cheering.

"Took you long enough," Macao said, coming up to us.

"Oh?" I asked him, raising a brow. "It took a while for you and Enno to get together, if I remember correctly. Laxus and I are a lot younger than you, so we waited. What's your excuse?"

Wakaba started laughing wildly at that. "Oh man, she's got you there!"

"What about you, old man?" I asked. "You're starting to get old. Macao and Rex already have someone else, and I'm sure Silver and Ur are going to be a thing soon."

At that, Silver, who was standing pretty close, flushed a deep red.

"We're already a thing," Ur said, not looking up from the paper.

I blinked at that, turning my head to look at her. "Oh. Okay. When did that happen?"

"About ten months ago."

Actually, now that I think about it, it's not that shocking that they didn't say anything. Ur is a pretty private person, and Silver was living on his own for awhile...and dead...I'm more surprised that Ultear, Gray or Lyon didn't say anything.

I'm going to need to have a talk with the three of them.

"When's the wedding?" I asked.

Silver choked on his drink.

"I win," Ur said, folding the newspaper up. "We already got married. We eloped right before you disappeared, before Ultear's birthday."

I blinked at them. "Uh...where's the rings?"

She smirked and pulled out a necklace. "We had a bet on who would figure it out first. Silver lost."

Both of them were putting on their rings now.

"What's the penalty?" Laxus asked.

Silver flushed a deeper red, and Ur just smirked.

"Actually, we don't want to know," I answered. I turned back to Wakaba, tightening my arms around Laxus's neck. "Dude, you're the only one in your generation that isn't with someone or doesn't already have a kid." And from the looks of it, Mari and Gildarts would be getting together soon, too. "You're falling behind."

His mouth dropped open and his pipe fell out.

"What is all the commotion about?" Makarov asked, exiting his office.

"Your grandson and Elle finally got together!" Gildarts yelled up at him, laughing. By his side, Mari smiled at the two of us.

Makarov paled, and then burst into tears. "NOW THE TROUBLE WILL NEVER LEAVE!"

"Gee, Gramps, way to make me feel loved," I said dryly, though it did kinda hurt.

It was the first time I had called him that, but I was with Laxus now, and I honestly wasn't planning on changing that.

Which made him my grandfather too.

"But imagine all of the babies!" Mavis cried, flying into the room, Zeref walking after her in a sedate pace. "Ohhh, they'll be so adorable, with Elle's and Laxus's looks!"

She spun around to look at us. "It's a good thing that you decided to get together so soon! I'm sure you'll both be heartbreakers in the future, so it's probably a good idea that you've claimed each other before then!"

She then flew over to Reedus, who was so busy drawing he didn't notice her, and asked, "Hey, Reedus, can you draw Elle's and Laxus's future children for me?"

Reedus let out a little shriek of surprise, and Freed rose from the floor like a zombie. "Did someone say ELLAXUS BABIES?" he wheezed.

"What the hell is going on?" came a voice, and Laxus and I turned to see Macbeth and Erik walk through the doors, before they were followed by Sorano, Yukino, and Orga, who bounded up to Laxus and I immediately.

"Laxus and Elle announced that they're a couple and the guild decided that they should explode," Erik explained to Macbeth, who nodded in understanding.

"Do you guys want to spend time with me or not, cause Laxus and I'll just go home..." I said casually to the kids.

This caused more than a few of them to scream and they started herding Laxus and I back to the training room immediately, already squabbling over what we'd watch back there as Lucy called Aries and started producing fluff.

"You sure know how to make them move," Laxus muttered in my ear as he settled on the ground and sat on his lap, my back leaning into his chest. I relaxed in his arms, which wrapped around me, as the kids started searching through the movies. Now that we were done with Fantasia, we could relax and watch cute movies.

We started with Frozen, and I decided to put Erik's plan into action.

* * *

"Play with my hair, Laxus," she said.

Everything stopped for him. "What?" he asked quietly.

"Play with my hair," she said. "Please."

In shock, Laxus reached forward and gently touched it. She tensed, but as he ran his fingers through it, she slowly began to relax.

The kids played the movie, and Laxus lost himself in the music and Elle's hair.

"Are you _braiding?_ " she asked, and Laxus, for the first time since she vanished, could really hear the laugh in her voice.

"Yeah," he grumbled. "Lucy made me learn."

She giggled, before calling out. "Who wants some braids, guys? We can make a train."

Oddly enough, the first one to Elle was Freed, who instantly claimed the spot in front of her.

There was some laughter at that, but most of the girls – and some of the guys – gathered to play with hair.

* * *

I forgot how good it felt to have someone play with your hair.

I had rarely gotten it played with in my old life (one reason I loved haircuts so much) but I hadn't even thought of letting someone do it this time around.

The movie was enjoyable. Lyon disappeared right before 'Let It Go' happened. He ended up coming out at exactly the right time, with his hair grown out by Cancer, and in a sparkly blue dress provided by Virgo. Why he wanted to turn into Elsa and sing 'Let It Go' on his eleventh birthday, I have no idea, but it really cheered me up, which seemed to be what he was going for.

They were all so sweet.

Afterwards, the kids started fighting over what to watch next, trying to find another happy one (or one that ends happy and is relatively happy throughout it) before finally deciding on Tangled.

Laxus's running commentary made it much more enjoyable. First, he commented on how Mother Gothel could have avoided the whole thing if she changed Rapunzel's birthday, and on how she was so fucking lazy she couldn't even climb up the wall herself, and instead made Rapunzel work to pull her up.

At the end of the song 'Mother Knows Best' he muttered in my ear "Mother's a Bitch" and I couldn't stop snickering. Next to us, Lucy (who luckily hadn't heard him) had turned to her mom and made her promise to never go insane like that.

"Rapunzel reminds me of you, Mavis," Zeref said, laughing, and they curled up together a few spaces away. I'm glad they seemed to have forgiven each other. "Running around with long hair and bare feet."

"Does the horse remind anyone else of Erza?" Lyon asked.

"What was that?" Erza hissed, requipping a sword.

"Nothing!" he cried.

I laughed from where I laid and continued to let Laxus play with my hair, having stopped the braid train long before Frozen ended. To my surprise, Erza saw what we were doing and turned to Jellal. "Jellal, p-play with my hair," she commanded. It would've come across much better if she hadn't stammered.

He blushed, but started doing it, and around us more than a few kids paired up.

"Can-can I play with _your_ hair, Juvia?" Gray asked quietly.

"S…sure, Gray-san," Juvia stammered.

In the corner of my eye, I saw Macbeth, who was blushing so much you could see through his makeup, sitting still while Erigor braided his hair.

"Laxus, I have a new ship," I whispered.

"So, the craze hit you too, huh?" he asked.

I shook my head. "No, I kinda started the craze, I just haven't been going nuts because most people are kids and nothing has really happened yet."

"So, who is it?"

"Look at Macbeth and Erigor," I whispered, giggling at them. Even Erigor had a light blush on his cheeks now.

"Yeah, they both like each other," Erik said, popping up next to me. I gave a little shriek and hit him.

"What?" he asked.

"Don't scare me like that!" I said, and then I realized what he said.

"I don't like that look on her face," Laxus muttered, before turning to Erik. "This is _your_ fault. I blame you for whatever comes next."

"You can tell me about my ships!" I hissed happily, hugging leaning over from Laxus's lap to hug Erik for a bit. "Yay!"

It wasn't long before I was pulled away and Laxus wrapped his arms around me, glaring at Erik.

Erik just chuckled as he read Laxus's thoughts.

"What is it?" I asked.

"His dragon doesn't want you to hug anyone else," Erik said, laughing.

I rolled my eyes. "Laxus, that's ridiculous. You wanna try telling the kids they can't hug me? What do you think will happen?"

"A riot?" Erik suggested, laughing some more.

Laxus looked away, blushing. "I already knew that, that's why I didn't say anything! So, shut up. This is a problem with having a mind reader! They share all of your secrets!"

"I HEAR SOULS!"

"Same difference."

"I SWEAR LAXUS, I HAVE SO MUCH BLACKMAIL MATERIAL ON YOU…"

I laughed, and I could tell from the looks on their faces that that was what the two boys were going for. I relaxed back onto Laxus and squeezed his hand.

"It's so nice being here with you guys," I whispered, drifting off.

* * *

Laxus sighed.

"Don't think that," Erik said, his eyes on Laxus.

Laxus looked away. "Why not?"

"She's already forgiven you, so you should get over it," Erik replied. "And I forgive you too. For hurting my sister. But it's not _my_ forgiveness you need. It's your own."

Erik got up and walked over to Cubellios, who was laying on a large rock. Freed had written runes on it to keep it warm, and sometimes she liked to curl up there.

Lucy scooted closer to Laxus and pouted.

"Why are _you_ upset?" Laxus asked her.

"No reason," she said, but she was looking at Gray and Juvia, and Jellal and Erza.

"Are you jealous you don't have someone?" Laxus asked, amused.

"No," she responded, blushing.

"You are," Laxus commented.

Lucy shifted, upset. "I just…everyone's pairing up."

"What about Levy?" Laxus asked. It was true that just about everyone was pairing up. Lyon was with Cana now, Simon was with Ultear and Brandish was with Sorano. With Jellal and Erza together, and Juvia and Gray together, the only one left (who probably _would_ participate in the braiding) was Levy.

She blushed. "I meant…romantically."

She whispered the last word.

Laxus blinked and looked back at the couples. "Brandish and Sorano? And...Ultear and Simon..."

Lucy nodded.

" _Really_?"

"Brandish and I have sleepovers all the time with Aquarius, Aries and Virgo. And we talk about our crushes a lot. And yeah, Ultear told me she liked Simon awhile back."

Sometimes Laxus forgets how strong Lucy is. She's not even ten yet and can pull out three zodiac gates long enough to have 'Sleepovers' with them.

He smiled at her and ruffled her hair, and she batted at his hand. "Laxus!"

He chuckled. "What?"

"Stop messing up my hair!" Lucy whined.

"Isn't that what you wanted?" Laxus asked, looking around the room.

Lucy shook her head. "No, I want someone I _like_ to play with my hair."

"I feel so loved," Laxus said dryly.

Lucy glared at him. "Of course, I love you, Laxus-nii. But not like _that_. And you're with Ellie-nee, anyway."

Laxus looked down at the sleeping girl on his lap. "I guess you're right. We're finally together."

Lucy huffed. "You should have kissed her _way_ earlier."

"Yeah?" Laxus raised an eyebrow. "And when should I have done that?"

"After we won the games!" Lucy said happily.

"The Games?" Laxus asked. "In X773?"

She nodded.

"You mean when she was ten and I was twelve?" Laxus asked, before shaking his head. "No, it's probably better that we waited. Now that I'm fifteen and she's thirteen, I feel like our bond is a lot stronger now, and we both know what we really want."

"Yeah." Elle's soft voice hit both of their ears. "After what we went through, we know how much we really care about each other, and so we really do both know what we want now." She smiled up at Laxus. "Each other."

Lucy squealed and scooted up to the two of them. "I'm gonna want younger siblings someday."

Laxus choked on air, and Elle laughed. "Of course, Lucy. _Someday_ , but not any time soon, alright? And technically they'd be your nieces and nephews."

Laxus was still coughing. "You're thinking that far ahead?"

"Yep," Elle said, leaning back into him. "We've got to add to my army, after all."

Laxus stopped and began to laugh, wrapping his arms around Elle and pulling her away from Lucy, holding her tight.

"You're right," he said. "We're going to have to add more kids to your child army. Soon we'll run out of people now, and we'll need to start a new generation."

The thought of thinking far enough of ahead to start a family kinda freaked Laxus out a bit, but on the other hand…his inner dragon (which had been getting _louder_ , dammit) was practically purring at the thought.

So, he was okay with thinking about it, but that's because his magic was influencing him. Why was Elle okay with it?

 _Well, she was an orphan last time around_ , Laxus thought to himself. _And she was completely alone. She knew that she'd probably never have parents at the time that she ran away, so she probably dreamed of falling in love and starting a family of her own._

 _Up until the point she died_ -

"WHAT?" came Erik's screeching, and the movie stopped, gathering everyone's attention.

Laxus almost groaned.

He had forgotten that there was a mind reader in the room.


	91. The 'Talk' - Part Two

***On the last night of Chanukah the-real-narnia gave to me:**

 **A lot of insanity...***

 **If you're a boy...get over it.**

* * *

 **Chapter Ninety One - The 'Talk'...Part Two**

"ELLE _DIED_?" Erik yelled. "What the hell?"

Well, that's a way to get everyone's attention.

I sighed as all eyes turned towards me.

"In my previous life, I did die," I said evenly, wondering who was even thinking about that, and planning to possibly punch them into the next room. "But I am fine with it."

He gaped at me, but a different voice interrupted me before I could continue.

" _HOW_ COULD YOU _POSSIBLY_ BE OKAY WITH IT?" Macbeth roared, storming up.

"BECAUSE IT'S BETTER HERE!" I yelled back, before turning and hiding my face into Laxus's chest.

I couldn't see him, but I knew he was glaring at Macbeth.

"What do you mean?" It was a deathly whisper that came from Jellal, and I realized that most of the kids still didn't even _know_ about my other life – I'm pretty sure that the last time I really talked about it was during the games.

And even then, I don't think I mentioned that I died.

"Everyone sit down," I said quietly.

They obeyed, scooting closer as if it were story time, and the adults in the room followed suit.

Damn eavesdroppers.

Though they probably _do_ deserve to know…

"My last life wasn't the best," I started. "In fact, I might even call it horrible. It's so bad, the one who sent me here apparently blocked a lot of the memories, and they will come back slowly as I get older. Because of that, I can't tell you everything that happened; after all, I don't know myself."

"It wasn't fun," I continued. "From what I remember, I grew up in an orphanage, and I never had any friends or family. It was 'everyone for themselves' in the orphanage, so when I found the stories of this universe, it hit me extremely deeply. I wanted that for myself. Maybe part of the reason I've come here is because I want to help you all, but it's also because I'm selfish. Because I wanted a family this time around."

"There's nothing wrong with that," Erza said quietly, and the others nodded.

"When I looked old enough, I ran away from the orphanage and posed as an adult, getting a job and living in an abandoned apartment. One day, I got hit by a car. I died."

"HOW CAN YOU BE SO CASUAL ABOUT IT?" Macbeth yelled.

"Because, like I said, IT'S BETTER HERE!" I shouted back. "I have a family here, Macbeth. I have _Fairy Tail_. In my original life, I had no one. _I died alone, alright_?"

I panted a bit, trying to catch my breath and feeling like I had run an emotional marathon, and Laxus put his hands on my shoulders. "This time I had the type of life I thought I could _never_ have. So, I'm fine with it."

Macbeth moved forward and gripped my shoulders. "Promise me. Promise me you won't be okay with dying again, Elle."

"I won't," I said, putting my hands on his arms. "I've got too much to lose, this time around. Alright, Macbeth?"

Slowly, he nodded, his eyes locked on mine, and he pulled away.

This, of course, didn't do much, because I was immediately slammed into by a river of crying children, led by Lucy and Juvia, who were sobbing about my death (which they apparently _hadn't_ previously known about).

Laxus growled a bit under his breath, but he still held me steady as the two of us were dog piled.

"Be careful, she's still recovering!" he told the kids, and they actually slowed down a bit on their journey to smothering us.

I laughed a bit, opening my arms. "Hey, guys, I'm right here. We'll have another sleepover tonight, alright? I'm sorry about running off before."

The younger kids went up in cheers and we all settled down again. As the kids got off of me (and Laxus), Yukino came up and climbed into my lap.

"Hey, Yukino," I said, running my hand through her hair. "What's up?"

She didn't answer, just curled up more into my lap, and I relaxed into Laxus and just laid with Yukino lying on top of me.

"Are you trying to squish me?" Laxus asked.

"If you want me to get off so badly…" I trailed off, and I had a teasing tone in my voice.

He wrapped his arms around me again, pinning me back to his chest. "Not a chance."

Yukino giggled.

While everyone was watching the movie, I started making a list, before eventually passing it to Laxus. "This is the right order, right? I'm not missing anyone?"

"No, why?" he asked.

I smirked. "You'll see."

The first three names were _Cana, Elle and Laxus,_ and then, in order:

 _Juvia_

 _Levy_

 _Freed_

 _Bickslow_

 _Evergreen_

 _Lucy_

 _Brandish_

 _Erigor_

 _Nab_

 _Gray, Lyon and Ultear_

 _Jet and Droy_

 _Kagura_

 _Jellal, Erza, Millianna, Simon, Sho, Wally_

 _Macbeth, Erik, Sorano, Richard, Sawyer and Orga_

Eventually, the movie ended and I clapped my hands, getting everyone's attention. "Alright, guys, listen up. We're _not_ going to watch another movie."

There was a myriad of complaints, but I ignored them. "Alright, if you guys aren't a part of this generation….get out!"

"What?" Gildarts asked.

"Out!" I shouted. "Shoo! This is secretive stuff. So, get out!"

"Are you serious?" Silver asked.

Ur grabbed him and started pulling him out of the room.

"Thank you, Ur!" I called as the rest of them followed suit.

When the door shut behind them, I turned to Freed. "Freed, activate the runes for me, will you?"

He nodded, approaching the doors and pulling up the barriers.

"Are we allowed to stay?" Mavis asked, flying over.

"Depends," I said, amused. "Will you tell any of the adults what we're planning?"

She shook her head. "Nuh-uh!"

I smiled at her. I might not have told her that I forgave her, but it seemed that she already knew. "Alright, you can stay."

"Hooray!" she cheered, spinning around, and Zeref chuckled at his…girlfriend? Wife? Lover? What even were they, officially?

I'm just glad they're happy again.

"What are we doing?" Macbeth asked.

"We're going to be grouping up in pairs of six. Yukino doesn't count," I said.

"I would like to be in Ella-sama's group!" Freed declared.

"No," I said.

He deflated.

"Neither of us are in a group, Freed," I continued.

At his confused look, I started to smile, giving him a sly look. "After all, the first group of six – you, me, Laxus, Levy, Juvia, and Cana – already accomplished our mission."

His eyes widened as he got it, and he began to cackle.

"Wait, _what_?" Erik shouted, reading his mind.

"You seem to be shouting a lot today," Macbeth commented.

"I THINK I'M ENTITLED!" Erik shouted.

"What are we missing?" Sawyer asked.

"I'll explain," I offered, raising a hand.

Yukino curled up on me, and I smiled at the kids around me. "It's time for FAIRY TAIL INITIATION!"

"We have an initiation?" Mavis asked, cocking her head.

"Kinda," I smirked. "You see, after Me, Laxus, Cana, Juvia, Levy and Freed all joined Fairy Tail, we decided to do something. We spent around four months practicing, in fact."

By now, the whole group of us were smiling, though Levy had figured it out only a few seconds after Freed had.

"You see, we decided to fight Gildarts," I said.

And then:

"WHAT?"

"Good thing we put up those runes," Laxus muttered.

I continued. "You see, Cana hadn't told Gildarts that she was his daughter yet, and she felt like she might be a bit unworthy. Because of that, I suggested that we fight him. So we did."

There was silence, before Gray screeched. "And?"

"And we won," I said, shrugging. "Mostly through luck and cheating, I'll admit. But we're going to do it again! And by 'we', I mean 'you'."

"I don't want to fight Gildarts!" Lyon yelled.

Erigor was laughing over to the side.

I looked at him. "What are you laughing about? You need to fight him, too."

He went deathly pale; which is saying something, because he's already pretty pale.

"We can't do that!" Bickslow cried.

The only people who weren't protesting were ones who hadn't seen Gildarts fight. Since Erik was able to hear through memories, he was not among them.

"I DON'T THINK IT'S A GOOD IDEA, ELLE!" he shouted.

I sighed. "Fine. If you guys don't want to do it, fine, but I think it'd be a good experience. At the very least, I want you to group up with the people you would've been in a group with and discuss ways you could use your power to overwhelm the guy, alright? It's a good mental exercise, and it's how we developed a lot of our spells."

There was grumbling, but everyone else was mostly relieved as they went to their groups, which I pointed out for them.

"Bicks, what's wrong?" Laxus's voice rumbled his chest, and I followed his gaze over to Bickslow, who was staring at us in shock, contemplating.

"I don't get it," Bickslow said slowly.

Everyone stopped to look at him.

"Don't get what?" Evergreen asked, annoyed that he wasn't joining their group.

"You said that you spent four months preparing…but if you take the time that I joined and the time that Freed joined, there's only a few days left over…"

I nodded, "Yeah, that's about right."

"But then you would've only been nine years old," Bickslow pointed out. "Laxus wasn't even twelve then. Freed would be eight, Cana would be six, and Juvia and Levy would've been five."

I blinked at him. "So?"

"Are you insane!?" he shrieked.

"Yes."

"Brandish and I have decided that we want to do it. Just the two of us," Lucy announced.

"Look what you've done now!" Bickslow cried.

I shrugged.

"We'll do it too," Jellal said, gesturing to him and Erza.

I nodded. "Anyone else?"

Macbeth, Erigor, Erik and Orga exchanged looks. "We'll probably do it eventually…but not right now."

I nodded. "Great."

* * *

A few things happened over the next few weeks.

For one, Laxus took Erik into the woods for Dragon Slayer training.

During which Macbeth decided to break into my house.

I had teleported back home, and laid down on my bed, which seemed kinda empty without Laxus there, and soon fell asleep listening to music.

When I woke up, the songs had finished cycling through. We were able to record all of the songs that the kids did and put them on the SoundPods, but we still couldn't put my specific memories onto them.

I put down my SoundPod and shuffled through my Memory Songs, coming to the more depressing ones that I would try and keep the kids away from.

I stopped at one memory, realizing that I hadn't listened to this artist in forever, and grabbed one of his songs off the top.

It wasn't until it started playing that I realized how eerily close the lyrics were to my current situation.

I remembered what Mari had said, about how a wizard's lungs became more powerful because of absorbing Ethernano.

And I began to sing.

" _Insidious is blind inception…_

 _What's reality with all these questions?_

 _Feels like I missed my alarm and slept in…(slept in)…_

 _Broken legs, but I chase perfection_

 _These walls are my blank expression…_

 _My mind is a home I'm trapped in_

 _And it's lonely inside this mansion._ "

I stopped singing, because next was the rap verse (and I will never be able to rap). It needed a lot of work, but it kinda sounded…good.

"Not too bad," came a voice.

I jumped a few feet in the air and shot a beam of Venus directly at the culprit. Luckily, Macbeth is a Reflector Mage, and wasn't hurt by it.

"Don't scare me like that!" I scolded.

He shrugged. "Are you going to join a band?"

He walked into the room and sat down on the side of my bed, which I had sat back down upon.

"I don't think so," I said quietly. "I mean, I'm not _that_ good."

I wasn't bad, but I guess I had what could be called a 'unique voice'. Some people would like it, and others would probably hate it. But it wasn't amazing, like Lucy's beautiful light soprano voice or Cana's deeper alto.

Macbeth was quiet, before sighing and saying, "I think you should sing at Laxus's birthday."

" _What_?" I asked.

"Look, you know Erik and I are close. We both consider you our sister, and Laxus is a topic that tends to come up a lot…"

I glared at him.

He shrugged. "Anyway…you guys are together, and it's pretty obvious that you'll stay like that. So, we were thinking of a way to help you guys get better."

"Okay…" I trailed off.

"So, Erik already told you about how Laxus wanted to play with your hair. But he also wants you to sing to him on his birthday, just like he does for you. Even if it's horrible, he still wants it. Of course, according to Erik, he romanticizes it in his mind so you sound pretty good, but he really just wants you to do that for him. Even if it's embarrassing for you."

I sighed. Geez, Macbeth and Erik playing cupid was _not_ something I saw coming.

"Alright. I think I even have the right song for him," I said quietly. "So, I'll get to work on that. Thanks, Macbeth. Also, GET OUT OF MY HOUSE. KNOCK NEXT TIME!"

He smiled and slipped away, and I rolled my eyes.

I knew what song I wanted to do, but if I wanted to take it a step further, I guess I could also play the instruments too, rather than just sing.

Which meant…I needed to learn how to play piano.

Great.

* * *

Unfortunately, I did not finish learning piano by the time Laxus came back, but Freed let me borrow his keyboard and promised that he wouldn't tell.

Though I doubt it would be on his mind.

Time passed pretty quickly, and I ended up kicking Laxus out of my house so I could practice. All he knew was that it was part of his present, and that he wasn't allowed to go near the place.

And on November 1st, I got a present.

Not a good one, though.

"PORLYUSICA, I GOT MY PERIOD!" I shouted, kicking in the door.

"So what, you stupid brat?" she called grabbing her broom.

"So do you have something for it?" I whined. I had gotten the usual toiletries I needed, but that didn't take care of the cramps. "I feel like stabbing myself would hurt less. PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE!"

I wasn't really lying about the 'stabbing' thing. It had hurt like hell in my last life, but this brought it to a whole new level.

"PLEASE," I shouted, clutching my lower abdomen. I had been using Mars to heat up my hands, which seemed to be helping a bit. "It _hurts_."

"Fine!" she shouted, grabbing a pink potion and shoving it at me. "Here! But-"

I already gulped it down.

"-You can't use magic as long as it lasts."

I put down the empty glass. "Shit."

So I had to walk to the guild, rather than teleport.

Porlyusica gave me some more (it apparently lasts four hours) and warned me about how I used it.

She told me that I never knew when I could get in a fight, and she wasn't wrong.

If a person was strong enough, they'd still be able to use magic under the potion, but it generally redirected all of your magic specifically to that one place in order to get it over faster.

On the bright side, periods generally only last two or three days, on the potion.

So at least it wouldn't be a _week_ of no magic or no pain.

It was when I entered the guild that I discovered the _real_ problem.

"ELLE?" Laxus shouted, running for me. "Are you okay? I smell blood. What's wrong?"

I simply stared at him for a bit. "It's just my time of month, Laxus."

He blinked at me, completely clueless. "What do you mean? What does that have to do with you bleeding?"

I looked at him, and then nodded, shouting. "ALRIGHT, ALL BOYS IN OUR GENERATION, GET YOUR ASSES IN THE TRAINING ROOM _NOW_!"

"Why?" Orga asked.

"Because I said so!" I yelled.

They all filed into the room, and I looked over all of them. "If you're not going to be older than 10 by the end of this year, get out."

In the end, the only kids in the room were Erigor, Richard, Laxus, Macbeth, Erik, Nab, Freed, Jellal, Wally, Simon, Lyon, Gray, Jet, Droy, and Sawyer.

"Why are we here?" Erigor asked.

I went over to the wall and activated the runes. "You're here for 'The Talk'…part two."

Most of the kids went screaming for the door.

Gray stayed where he was, confused. "But I didn't get the first part."

I sighed and surveyed the kids. "Sit. _Down_."

Erigor, Laxus, Macbeth and Erik seemed more than a bit confused, but ultimately knew what 'the Talk' was about. Richard looked completely oblivious.

"Gray is right," I started. "He, as well as some of you, didn't get the Talk yet. But this is a _special_ talk."

I grabbed a light pen and drew a very sloppy uterus. "As most of you know, babies don't stay in the stomach, but rather a different organ, called the uterus. The DNA, which is your genetic code – think of a recipe to make you who you are. Anyway, the DNA for the mom is in an egg – yes, it's an egg, please don't interrupt."

Several boys shut their mouths at that, and it seemed to me that these boys also had _no clue_ just what a period was.

"Basically, the egg comes down this tube and stays in the uterus, attaching itself to a wall, and an egg is released about once a month. If the male DNA is waiting for it, then they combine and it turns into a baby."

Gray raised his hand. "How does...the male DNA...get there?"

I sighed. "I'll explain that to you guys in December, okay? But it does." I turned back to the board. "If there _isn't_ male DNA waiting, something else happens. Does anyone know what?"

Everyone exchanged clueless looks, and I sighed. "If there _isn't_ male DNA waiting, then the egg will slowly, over the course of a week, tear itself off of the wall."

"That sounds painful," Lyon muttered.

"It _is_ ," I hissed. "Over that week, the girl is bleeding from there _constantly_. And I mean _constantly._ The uterus comes out down here," I pointed at the vagina. "And so does the blood. For a week, there's constant blood coming out here."

The boys began to look sicker and sicker.

"So, for a constant week, girls are in extreme pain, and constantly bleeding. Everything hurts and everything sucks. So try to remember than anything _you_ can do… _I_ can do _bleeding_."

The boys were all extremely pale now.

I smiled, satisfied that I had gotten my point across. I directed my gaze over to Gray and Lyon as I took down the rune walls. "Really drives home how badass Ur is, right?"

Their eyes widened and they burst out the door, running for Ur and tacking her in a hug.

"You're so _cool!_ " Lyon cried, squeezing her.

"Lyon? Gray? What's wrong?" she asked.

"We had no idea!" Gray yelled, hugging her.

"Okay, what is going _on_?" she asked, laughing.

"It's probably nothing," Silver said.

"Don't be a dick, Dad!" Gray said, turning to his dad and throwing a hammer made of ice at him.

"Ah, what the hell, Gray?" Silver yelled, blocking the attack and batting away the ice.

"Do I even want to know what you did?" Enno asked.

"I explained periods to them," I said, and then turned to Laxus. "Speaking of which, why didn't you know? It's not as if I'm the only girl in the guild that has periods. You should've been able to smell the others."

He looked away, blushing. "Now that you've explained it, periods smell a bit different than normal blood does. Probably because of the…organ…stuff…." He started turning green.

I pinned him with a look. "So why'd you freak out with me?"

"It's because his dragon is really protective of you," Erik commented, popping up next to us.

I jumped a bit (this was only going to get worse once Rogue got here, wasn't it?) and hit him. "I said to stop that!"

"And stop reading my mind!" Laxus complained.

"I _hear souls_!" Erik repeated.

"I don't care what the fuck it is, you can smell songs for all I care, just _stop_."

I laughed, and settled onto the chair.

To me, this was perfect.

* * *

 **Next chapter should be up for Christmas Eve! :)**

 **Next chapter for Dreams of Dragon should be up Christmas morning.**

 **All of my Chanukah things are up now; some of my notifications haven't gone out, so if you check my author's profile page, you should be able to find the rest.**

 **Also, the song is 'Mansion' by NF. NF is a rapper, but some of his songs make me fucking cry like _crazy_. It's not the type of 'rap' people tend to think of, and I suggest you check him out.**


	92. Merry Christmas

**Alright, a few things. First, Merry Christmas, you guys! Sorry this is a bit late, and also for virtually disappearing off of the internet for a few days; I started working again and I've been fucking _exhausted_.**

 **But I still got this finished, yay!**

 **Also, on the Strauss siblings; I know a lot of you guys want them in now, but unfortunately it will be awhile longer. According to the Fairy Tail Wikia Timeline and the Tartaros arc, they didn't join until X778, and since I've had most of this story planned out from the beginning, I can't change that now anyway. It wouldn't fit.**

 **Sorry about that, guys. Anyway, here you go! One more chapter and then Dragon Slayers, and I'm trying to get _that_ chapter up on New Year's Eve.**

 **The song is called DNA by Lia Marie Johnson, and I've linked it for Quotev and AO3. Video should be added to Wattpad. It was also inspired by Anime Safe Haven, a Youtube channel that does Fairy Tail AMVs that are amazing (she did one to the nightcore version of this song). Whenever my muse starts to die, I just have to look at her videos. And yes, she also did a video to Unstoppable (Natsu-centric) and one to Never Going Back. I suggest you check her channel out.**

 **Merry Christmas, guys! (And yes, even though I'm Jewish, a review for a gift would be much appreciated. :D)**

* * *

 **Chapter Ninety Two - Merry Christmas**

The days had flown by, and then Laxus's birthday was upon us.

I was undeniably nervous, and Lucy and Juvia decided that I had to look 'amazingly pretty'.

I'm around 80% sure that Juvia has some sort of plan going on with Freed, and that they're trying to get me to kiss Laxus in public.

I also think it might end up happening anyway.

Thanks to Virgo and Cancer (again) I ended up looking pretty and a bit more mature. This time, they put make-up on me to make me look more like a 'singer'. (Which I'm pretty sure was because of Erigor).

Honestly, I thought the only people who would be 'shipping' other than me would be Mira (obviously) and also Natsu and Juvia, because I had seen evidence that Juvia shipped Nalu and Natsu had shipped Gruvia.

Laxus didn't really know what was going on, only that it was part of his birthday present.

So he was undeniably surprised to see our guild's pseudo-stage set up out in the guild hall.

I took a deep breath from behind the curtain.

"Don't worry, Ellie-nee, you'll do great!" Lucy hissed, smiling at me before she ran off to join everyone else in the crowd.

 _Alright, Elle, you can do this_ , I thought to myself, all the while cursing Macbeth and Mashima's names.

And maybe Erik, Laxus and myself, for good measure.

Laxus was looking around and searching for me. "We can't start until Elle gets here."

"Shhhh!" several of the kids hissed to him.

The curtains opened and Laxus saw me on the stage.

A look of understanding dawned on his face and he looked around at all of the kids, who seemed very excited (but also very unsurprised).

Apparently, Macbeth and Freed can't keep secrets. Good to know.

I ignored them and sat down in front of the piano (because (according to Freed) I needed the _very best_. I'm pretty sure he used some of his endless savings from the Hollywood business from his and Cana's patents).

Freed said it was an early Christmas present to me.

I still think that a baby grand was overboard, but enough thinking on that for now.

I took a deep breath and the world stopped. My heart froze. And then as I let it out, the world started up again as I began to play.

" _Dark as Midnight_

 _Six pack Coors Light_

 _You don't look the same._

 _Past my bedtime_

 _Blue and red lights_

 _Come take you away"_

At first, it obviously wasn't making sense to him, probably because he hadn't heard the song before.

And unlike how he changed _Run_ to fit me better, I wasn't good at changing lyrics.

 _"Hate to see you like a monster so I run and hide_

 _Hate to ask, but what's it like to leave me behind_

 _I won't be, no I won't be like you_

 _I'm fighting back, I'm fighting back the truth_

 _Eyes like yours, won't look away_

 _But you can't stop DNA_

 _No, you can't stop DNA"_

Suddenly, it seemed to hit him, and it made start to well up.

 _"Twice a year, you come in crashing_

 _Nice to see you too_

 _Johnny Cash and backseat laughing_

 _Always ends too soon_

 _Hate to say hello 'cause I know that it_

 _Means goodbye_

 _Hate to ask but what's it like to leave me behind..._

 _I won't be no I won't be like you_

 _Fighting back, I'm fighting back the truth_

 _Eyes like yours, can't look away_

 _But you can't stop DNA..._

 _No, you can't stop DNA..."_

He was full out crying now, and I hoped he wasn't too upset about that.

 _"Are the pieces of you_

 _In the pieces of me_

 _I'm just so scared,_

 _You're who I'll be_

 _When I erupt_

 _Just like you do_

 _They look at me_

 _Like I look at you..._

 _I won't be, no I won't be like you_

 _Fighting back, I'm fighting back the truth_

 _Eyes like yours can't look away_

 _But you can't stop DNA_

 _No, you can't stop DNA"_

I stopped playing the music and stood up, walking off of the stage. Reaching out, I took Laxus's hands in mine, and squeezed them, saying, very firmly, "Laxus, _you are not your father._ You're your own person, and I love you."

I leaned forward and kissed him.

It was light, and sweet, and we had to separate pretty quickly because of a large crashing noise.

Looking over, we both saw Freed unconscious, having collapsed on the floor.

"We should really take him to a doctor," I muttered, before turning and kissing Laxus again as the kids cheered.

* * *

The days after Laxus's birthday passed quickly.

December was actually a pretty busy month, though.

First, I gave all the boys who turned ten, and all of the new boys the 'Talk' (Part One).

As with last time, someone (Gray) ended up stripping and girls started screaming.

It was apparently bad enough (and I still think this is _completely_ unwarranted) for Cana to use _Summon Lightning_ on Gray, which ended up leaving him unconscious on the ground.

Which lead to more screaming from everyone else, because he couldn't exactly put his clothes back on if he's unconscious.

* * *

On the 3rd of December, I ended up teleporting to Mercurius, to help Ame give birth to her next child.

It was the first time I had done it with a midwife at my side, and it luckily made it a lot easier. The healers taught me the 'proper' way to deliver the baby and use my powers to make it as easy as possible.

Unlike Hisui's, it was an easy pregnancy. Ame gave birth to an adorable little girl, who was named Kokumotsu, or Koku for short. It translated to Chalcedony, which was a lavender/light blue colored gem that matched the shade of the baby's small sprout of hair.

* * *

A few days later we celebrated Macbeth's fifteenth birthday on the ninth, and a week after that, Erigor's nineteenth.

This was followed by the S Class trials, which lead to changing the board.

On the left side, I added Macbeth, Erik, Sorano, Sawyer, Richard and Orga to the previous timeline, and then I added them to the right. I also moved some people up on the right – I'm just glad my name didn't go down.

I also added Kagura to both sides.

In the end, the left looked like this:

In wizard Saint, we had Makarov Ur Brandish Gildarts, Laxus Jellal and Silver (who was on a lower level than the others).

In SS column, we had Cana and Erza as high SS, Richard, Macbeth and Erik in the middle, and Gray and Orga in the lower side.

In the S Class, we had Ultear and Kagura in high S Class, Lucy, Erigor and Sorano in the middle, and Juvia, Freed, Lyon and Sawyer in the lower part.

Other than that the A, B, C, and D classes stayed the same: A was Bickslow and Evergreen, in middle and low, B held Levy on the highest level, Macao, Wakaba and Simon on the middle, and Nab and Millianna on the lowest level. Reedus in high C and Sho and Wally in low C.

On the _current_ level, Wizard Saint held Makarov at the top and Gildarts and Ur on the bottom.

SS was empty.

Lucy was in high S Class. Laxus was mid S Class. Cana, Brandish, Jellal and I were on the lowest level of S Class.

Mari, Macao, Wakaba Silver and Erigor were in high A Class. Ultear and Juvia were mid-A Class. Erza, Gray, Freed and Bickslow were in low A Class.

Levy, Enno, Lyon and Evergreen and Macbeth and Erik (who had both pushed themselves really hard after what happened) were a high B, and Nab and Richard were mid B. Orga and Sorano were a low B.

Reedus was still high C, and Jet and Droy and Sawyer joined them. Simon was mid-C, Sho and Kagura were lower C, and Millianna and Wally were still a high D.

Of this, Makarov, Gildarts and Ur, Levy and Enno, and Reedus and I all stayed on the same level from last year.

Lucy, Laxus, Cana, Brandish, Macao, Wakaba, Erigor, Ultear, Juvia, Gray, Freed, Evergreen, Lyon, and Nab moved up one.

Silver, Bickslow, Jet and Droy, Simon, Sho, Wally and Millianna all went up by two.

Erza went up by three (a whole letter grade) and Jellal went up by four.

When I asked him about it, he explained that he had trained a lot over the year because he wanted to help more (something he had apparently started after I turned him down for help with Zoldeo, all the way in the beginning of the year) and had worked even harder when I disappeared. Now that I thought of it, I actually hadn't seen him a lot unless he was directly spending time with me or practicing the dance with Erza, for Fantasia.

And then it was time for the trials.

S Class trials were _not_ fun.

I wasn't nominated this year (I wasn't expecting to be. If I was worthy of an S Class Mage I should've been able to escape earlier, or not get caught by Brain and Hades in the first place). Laxus _was_ nominated, and made me his partner.

This year, the trials were on Mount Hakobe.

Because you know…why the hell not?

Ur was fine with it. Gildarts was not.

Mari chided Gildarts for being a baby.

Mari was among the nominations, and Makarov revealed that Ivan used to be jealous of Mari because she reached S Class before he did.

Unfortunately, no one won.

We ended up stuck underground, with everyone huddling near me because I could produce fire because Macao was unconscious (Laxus had been pretty vicious taking him out).

At least I'm smart enough to keep food as well as sticks in my requip space, so everyone got their own torch.

Luckily, we found a lot of Mount Hakobe Ice, which I managed to steal and put in my requip space (that should come in handy someday) and we finally managed to escape, after the S Classers stood by and watched us beat up a monster.

They said it was part of the test, but since no one won the trials, I think it's just because they were lazy.

"Maybe you should choose a better place next time?" I asked Makarov.

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled. He had been stuck underground with us, and when I was cutting off all of the ice, he had to work as the heater because he also knows some elemental magic.

After returning, we ended up celebrating Silver's birthday, where he complained about always being worn out as hell from the S Class trials; even going so far as asking Makarov to move the trials in the future as a birthday present.

Makarov said no.

Ur told Silver that if he wanted it to stop, he could just win the trials. Silver pointed out that even though he would reach S Class, he'd still have to participate in the trials to test any new participants.

Makarov said that he'd only have to do that until we reached a certain amount of S Class members, which Makarov also pointed out would likely increase as soon as other people reached the age limit.

I pointed out that if he wanted one of the trials to finish, he should just plan them out accordingly.

* * *

A few days after Silver's birthday was Christmas, for which we celebrated Christmas Eve together in the guild.

"Alright, everyone, I've got some announcements," I yelled.

Everyone gathered round. "Do we even want to know?" Macbeth teased.

"I dunno, do you?" I asked him, rolling my eyes. "Anyway, back when I first joined Fairy Tail, I spent a lot of my time searching for Celestial Spirit Keys. I found a few major sites that had a lot of magical items, as well as a lot of treasure."

The girls who remembered started getting excited.

"With all of the confusion over the past few years, I forgot to do this," I continued. "And I only remembered a few months ago. I decided to wait for Christmas so you guys get another thing to celebrate. Alright, girls," I said, spreading my arms and dumping all of the treasure on the ground. "Find what you want. Some of us already has ours."

At that, Cana, Juvia, Levy, Lucy, Brandish, Evergreen, and I showed off our necklaces.

The rest of the girls sprung on the pile, and I noticed the faces on some of the boys.

Remembering how happy Laxus was when he chose treasure on his birthday, I rolled my eyes. "Alright, boys, you can get a piece, too."

The ones who jumped for the pile first were Erigor, Macbeth, Erik, Jellal, and Gray and Lyon. Orga, too, followed them curiously.

The rest of the boys took their time, though Laxus went searching through everything, too.

"You've already got a lot of things, Laxus," I said to him.

He smirked. "You can never have enough shiny things."

"You know it doesn't count as a present if she gives it to you first!" Erik shouted from somewhere in the pile of children and treasure.

"Dammit, Erik!" Laxus yelled.

I laughed.

In the end, all the girls had chosen necklaces that brought out their eyes, with the exception of Ultear. Simon had pointed out that her eyes had slowly started changing color from a brown to a red, and when I told her she could exchange it out for something else later, she decided on an amethyst necklace instead.

Several boys wanted earrings, and I told them that I knew someone who would pierce their ears, but wouldn't get here until July. They all decided to wait, surprisingly enough.

Jellal told me later that it was because of my 'recommendation'. The fact that I already knew someone who could do it made them more secure about it going well than trying someone else.

Speaking of Jellal, he had picked out a ruby pendant that shimmered with Erza's hair. Erza had picked out her own blue pendant, which (you guessed it) matched Jellal's hair.

It was a fun evening. There was laughter and food and searching through piles of gold and jewels (which, of course, is always fun).

Eventually, we all exchanged goodnights and well-wishes and went home.

* * *

The next morning, several of us went to Mercurius.

And by 'several' of us, I mean that I had to teleport myself, Laxus, Makarov, Mari, Gildarts, Jellal and Cana.

We all spent the time laughing and playing with the kids, while opening some presents and playing games.

Hisui asked to bring Lucy and Yukino next time (and I pointed out that Sorano was also Yukino's sister), and Ame asked some very important questions.

"Mari, I want you and Gildarts to be Koku's godparents," she said suddenly.

Everything stopped, before Mari tackled Ame and started sobbing, which caused Ame to start crying.

Which lead to Toma asking the next question.

"Ella," he said, approaching me. "We'd like you and Laxus to be Hisui's godparents. Will you accept?"

I started crying too, and nodded, giving him a hug, before scooping up the tiny baby and hugging her.

It really was, a Merry Christmas.


	93. The Gate

**One, thanks to Bossgorda on Wattpad (aka my friend Cat irl who _finally_ caught up to this, took you damn well long enough) I ended up switching the godparents in the previous chapter; Laxus and Elle are Hisui's and Mari and Gildarts are Koku's. Because it fits more with the appearance of their godparents into the children's lives.**

 **The next chapter (first of the slayers) will be up on New Years Eve or New Years Day (I want to try and get it in for the last one of the year, though.)**

 **Also...**

 **Sorry if there's typos I couldn't exactly see through my tears.**

 **I'm also not joking I fucking sobbed writing this.**

 **Just warning you.**

* * *

 **Chapter Ninety Three - The Gate**

The next six months fit the phrase, "the calm before the storm" nicely.

Only a few things happened, and it seems to me as if the world was quiet, simply waiting for the Dragon Slayers (or hell, even Natsu specifically) in a type of silent agreement.

The waters were still.

Only a series of things happened.

One; I changed the birthday list, and added all of the newcomers.

 _January 3_ _rd_ _– Jellal (11)_

 _January 19_ _th_ _– Reedus (19)_

 _January 26_ _th_ _– Ur (29)_

 _February 2_ _nd_ _– Brandish (9)_

 _February 5_ _th_ _– Yukino (3)_

 _February 28_ _th_ _– Laki (10)_

 _March 1_ _st_ _– Makarov (80)_

 _March 8_ _th_ _– Gray (10)_

 _March 17_ _th_ _– Max (9)_

 _April 4_ _th_ _– Sawyer (12)_

 _April 7_ _th_ _– Gildarts (37)_

 _April 10_ _th_ _– Sorano (10)_

 _April 14_ _th_ _– Millianna (8)_

 _April 26_ _th_ _– Juvia (9)_

 _May 1_ _st_ _– Elle (13)_

 _May 14_ _th_ _– Ultear (11)_

 _May 25_ _th_ _– Mari (33)_

 _June 1_ _st_ _– Lucy (9)_

 _June 8_ _th_ _– Erik (14)_

 _June 16_ _th_ _– Jet (10)_

 _June 24_ _th_ _– Nab (12)_

 _July 9_ _th_ _– Levy (9)_

 _July 12_ _th_ _– Cana (10)_

 _July 16_ _th_ _– Richard (17)_

 _July 22_ _nd_ _– Sho (9)_

 _August 7_ _th_ _– Erza (11)_

 _August 12_ _th_ _– Layla (29)_

 _August 24_ _th_ _– Evergreen (12)_

 _August 31_ _st_ _– Enno (23)_

 _September 8_ _th_ _– Macao (29)_

 _September 14_ _th_ _– Simon (11)_

 _September 25_ _th_ _– Droy (10)_

 _September 30th_ _– Freed (12)_

 _October 6_ _th_ _– Wally (12)_

 _October 9_ _th_ _– Orga (8)_

 _October 16_ _th_ _– Lyon (11)_

 _October 23_ _rd_ _– Bickslow (13)_

 _November 9_ _th_ _– Kagura (8)_

 _November 16_ _th_ _– Porlyusica (71)_

 _November 18_ _th_ _– Wakaba (29)_

 _November 23_ _rd_ _– Laxus (16)_

 _December 9_ _th_ _– Macbeth (15)_

 _December 16_ _th_ _– Erigor (19)_

 _December 22_ _nd_ _– Silver (30)_

 _December 29_ _th_ _– Jude (31)_

Two; on Max Alors's tenth birthday, in March, he and an eleven-year-old Laki Olietta finally joined the guild.

Three; I disappeared for two weeks; I spent one of them learning from Ichiya about perfume magic, and another learning from Warrod, about plant magic in particular. These were for me to focus on learning Ceres.

Four; I ended up installing a school for the kids; or at least basic math and literary lessons.

I was also exhausted, as the one doing most of the teaching.

Five; Evergreen got her period, and I gave her a one on one talk version of the one I gave the boys (The 'Talk' Part Two) except extremely toned down.

She took it surprisingly well.

Six; My fourteenth birthday arrived. With it, I also grew a lot more, finally looking a bit more like a teenager. I hit around five six, and was still growing.

Which is good, because I need to catch up to Laxus.

And seven; we also put off the April Fantasia for one more year, hoping to announce our new event after our win at the Grand Magic Games.

The Games.

This was something I was worried about.

Mostly because of July 7th.

The last day of the games; the first day of the slayers.

After last year's absence, and our explosion of a comeback at Fantasia, everyone was very hyped about the Grand Magic Games; and when I say everyone, I mean people _outside_ of Fairy Tail.

As for who was competing this year?

One team was comprised of me, Laxus, Jellal, Macbeth, and Erik. Erza was the backup.

The other one held Lucy, Cana, Gray, Brandish, and Orga. Ultear was the reserve.

Several people had asked to sit out, rather than participate.

And then we got the message that the games had changed, once again.

There were now six people on a team, plus one reserve.

The schedule would go like this:

July 1st - Day One: Game, Battles

July 2nd - Day Two: Game, Battles

July 3th - Day Three: Game, Battles

July 4th - Day Four: Tag Team Battles

July 5th - Day Five: Battle Royale

July 6th - Break

July 7th - Day Six: Game, Battle

July 8th - Day Seven: Game, Battle

July 10th – Day Nine: Tag Guild Battles

July 11th - Break

July 12th - Day Ten: Battle Royale

July 13th - Feast

So we had to shift things.

When I asked Toma about why this was happening (after all, we and Layla have previously spoken about the Gate), he said he wanted the Games to work as a distraction, and cover what else was happening.

As for shifting the teams:

Team A now comprised of me, Laxus, Macbeth, Erik, Jellal, and Erza, with Bickslow as back up.

Team B consisted of Lucy, Cana, Gray, Orga, Brandish and Ultear, with Juvia as the reserve.

Lyon was oddly fine with sitting out.

I don't believe it. I know that something else is going on, but as for what…I don't really care.

I was too tense regarding the Gate.

Most of the kids sensed the undertone, but I think most of them put it down as 'showing it to Ivan', which is how I explained away Fantasia.

Of them, only two knew about the Gate.

Laxus, and as a result, Erik.

And I was fine with them knowing. After all, the five next members were all dragon slayers.

* * *

It was on the fifth day when I caved.

But first, a recap: on the first day, Erik participated in Hidden, finding everyone easily and dodging all of their attacks immediately. When it was revealed that he was a dragon slayer, there were cries of outrage at Fairy Tail having _two_ dragon slayers (which made me nearly pass out from laughing so hard).

I couldn't wait to see people's reactions _next_ year.

Eventually, the last opponent (other than Ultear, who was also participating), was Jura, who figured out about Erik's powers. Or at the very least... "You're telepathic!"

"Ha!" Macbeth shouted by my side, standing on our balcony. "More like tele _pathetic_!"

The group of us let out snorts and guffaws, while Erik was so angry he ended up releasing enough poisonous gas before Jura realized what happened (which ended up with Jura unconscious on the ground).

This was followed by a one on one battle with me against Phantom, and I ended up kicking Sol's ass. Apparently he's still upset for the time I kicked his ass four years ago.

Unfortunately for him, I kicked his ass even faster this time.

On the second day, Jellal took part in Chariots and used Meteor to get to the finish line before everyone actually got to properly start. Two members still hadn't made it onto the chariots by the time he reached the end, and Orga used his lightning to copy Laxus's Lightning Body as much as possible, making second place easily.

Bickslow, after speaking with Erik for awhile, came to the conclusion that though he was the reserve, he would battle in Erik's place.

When I asked them later, they both shrugged and Bickslow admitted that he probably wouldn't get to compete in the Games again, and Erik probably would, because of his Soul-Listening and Dragon Slaying Magic.

And that they mainly wanted to prank everyone in Fiore.

So during the battle, where Bickslow ended up against Jura (starting to feel bad for the guy) he activated his Figure Eyes and immediately took control of Jura's soul, putting him asleep immediately and winning the battle within seconds.

Which lead to a majority of our team cracking up. Even Erza had trouble hiding her smile, though she was obviously trying to be a bit more responsible than anyone else was.

It wasn't working, though.

But it was a good thing that Jura went out so easily; he wasn't a Wizard Saint (yet) but Lamia Scale had announced him as an S-Class mage (last year, apparently) and he was their top contender. With him being taken out so easily both times, it would be harder for Lamia Scale to rack up the points. They had apparently tied with Phantom for first place the previous year because they had the teamwork to make up for the power they lacked (versus Phantom, who had no teamwork).

The next day, the opening game was the Naval Battle, and everyone agreed that I should do it before I had a chance to protest.

And to be fair, it was probably smart.

As far as I knew, Erza didn't have her Sea Empress Armor yet, which pretty much left it up to me, and Lucy, who summoned Aquarius and kept throwing in a few spirits to give people trouble; including me, which is why she got first place and I got second.

I'm not surprised.

The battle portion was Macbeth against a familiar person from Quatro Cerberus (I'm fairly sure he was in the X791 GMG in the previous timeline, but I don't remember his name) and quickly took him out without even using his Illusion Magic, which he had started learning.

But the next day was what was _really_ interesting.

I didn't realize until then, but Blue Pegasus got two more members I recognized.

Hibiki and Ren were both thirteen years old, placing them at twenty when the timeline first started.

And they were together in a Tag Team Battle against Erza and Jellal.

While I was glad that Blue Pegasus was finally getting some of it's main players, I also knew that they wouldn't last long against them, even though Jellal was only twelve and Erza wouldn't be twelve for a few more months.

But it was magnificent. Ren started out with sending hardened air bubbles at Erza and Jellal, while Hibiki mostly made shields. As Jellal dodged the air bubbles specifically, (using Meteor _,_ of course) he started writing the magic circles in the sky, lighting it up with the casting for Grand Chariot.

Erza, requipping into a smaller version of her flight armor, attacked Hibiki before he could block, and he was unable to shield the two Blue Pegasus members from the volley of attacks from the sky.

Jellal and Erza were declared the winners, and I couldn't help but practically squeeze the life out of them when they got within reach. "Oh, I'm so proud of you guys! And Jellal, I love how you wrote it out in the sky like that! It was so adorably badass!"

"I don't think that's a thing, Elle," Laxus said from next to me. "I don't think you can be 'adorable' and 'badass' at the same time."

"Yes, you can, just you wait and see," I told him.

After all, I feel as if those words fit Wendy to a T.

And then...

And then it was the Fifth Day; a Battle Royale.

* * *

Lucy looked at me with pleading eyes. " _Please,_ Ellie-nee! I want to show everyone soooooo _badly_ …"

My mouth opened to say, ' _What about the last day? You could do it then.',_ but the words didn't come out.

Instead, I croaked, "Okay."

Laxus shot me a worried look, and Erik and Macbeth exchanged glances.

Lucy and the others were too busy celebrating.

Laxus hustled me aside, and Erik and Macbeth joined us. "What's going on?" he asked.

"Just a feeling, that's all," I said quietly. I had done the math.

We had originally planned what we would do the Battle Royale days, and as we continued, Laxus looked more and more uncomfortable.

Eventually he had brought me aside. "Elle, I'm not comfortable with you going off on your own. The last time that happened, you go kidnapped and tortured for four months."

I squeezed his hands. "I was fine earlier this year, when I went to Blue Pegasus and visited Warrod."

"I don't care," he hissed.

"Laxus, Cana found a way to counteract her card," I told him, letting go of his hands and pulling him close. I wrapped my arms around him. "Even if something like that does happen again, I won't get cornered. I need you to let me do this, okay? I'm sure the dark guilds are still watching us, and it would be too suspicious if we both disappeared. Even myself disappearing is a pretty big beacon, but you know why I might have to do it."

He nodded.

To me, it was kinda simple; Natsu, Gajeel, Wendy, Sting and Rogue – damn it, _Ryos_ \- would have known each other if they all just passed out of the Gate easily. Something told me they got separated, and that I'd have to track them down.

I had told all of the kids this while we were planning, and they'd all understood, which is why we made contingency plans in case I had to disappear.

And so, on the fifth day, to kick off the Battle Royale, Lucy pulled out her Christmas present.

" _Open, Gate of the Sea Serpent! Cetus!_ "

A giant magic circle appeared over the whole city, and there was a rumbling noise as, out of the circle, a giant sea serpent appeared. Cetus was reminiscent of the sea serpent that appeared with Kemo Kemo on the island.

I could hear Goldmine screaming in the background, and I was fairly certain I could hear Jose screaming too (but in fear, not delight).

At the sight of Cetus, a bit less than half of our competitors immediately passed out, causing Team B's score to shoot up.

While that happened, the rest of my team (Team A) exchanged smiles and took out everyone else as they were distracted.

Cetus barely had to do anything, but after around five seconds of summoning him, every wizard who wasn't a part of Fairy Tail was unconscious.

I think Goldmine passed out, too.

* * *

After the fifth day, we had a day off, wherein I made Lucy, Layla and Jude spend the day together.

I spent the day going over plans with Freed and Levy, who (while not participating) were both working on the battle plans for the final days.

Just in case I wasn't able to be involved.

That night, Lucy gave Layla and I a hug, and she pulled out all twelve Zodiac keys and attached them to a key ring for us.

We said goodbye and the two of us headed down the basement of Mercurius.

"Are you sure you don't want me to do this?" I asked Layla. "Any of the five bloodlines can open the gate."

"Yes, but this has been my family's duty for years," she said quietly as we approached the gate.

I nodded, still wary. "So when do we open it?"

"As soon as the Eclipse starts," she said. "At midnight, exactly."

"It's _always_ midnight," I muttered, and she chuckled.

We met Toma and Zeref as we watched the clock. Zeref was so impatient and jumpy I finally sent him back to Mavis, who would hopefully get his mind off of Natsu's upcoming arrival.

Toma just laughed, but eventually took a break (probably to meet with Ame, who was spending a lot of time with Mari over the past few days), and counted down his return to midnight.

Five minutes til, I looked over to Layla. "Are you ready about this?"

She nodded, and spread all twelve keys into their slots.

"Is it time?" Toma asked, approaching us.

"Nearly," I said, turning back to watch as Layla prepared the gate.

Since all twelve keys were here, and it didn't require any magical energy, Layla _should_ be fine. Since she has Magical Deficiency Disease, that means that her magic is tied to her life force.

As she had no need to use magic this time (no need to substitute a missing key, as there weren't any), she should continue living at a normal rate.

The clock struck midnight, and Layla began to chant words in Latin.

"Why doesn't she just open it?" Toma asked me.

"She will, but this is connecting it. She needs to make sure she opens the Gate to the right place. If she doesn't, we could get just about anything coming through. In fact, remind me to tell you about what happened in X791, later."

He nodded and we both turned back to look at Layla, who spread her arms as the Gate began opening.

And then an explosion of light appeared, and five beams of light shot through the Gate and slammed into the ceiling, punching five chibi-sized holes into it.

I sweatdropped. " _Great_."

Damn you, Mashima.

I sighed and turned to Layla. "Well, I guess I better get going."

"Actually…" Layla said quietly. "Could you stay a bit longer, Elle?"

"Okay…" I said slowly, and sat down beside her, where she now sat on the floor. "Why?"

She gave me a sad smile. "You know that I consider you a daughter, right?"

It started getting hard to breathe, and I felt my heart pick up. "Yeah. Why?..."

She pulled me into a hug, and laid my head on her chest. "No reason," she said softly, humming and rocking me back and forth, her hand rubbing across my back.

My eyes started welling up. "Layla?"

"Could you call me 'Mom', just this once?" she asked, abruptly in her ministrations and humming.

"…Mom?" I whispered. "What's wrong?"

She said nothing, and I began to pull out of her embrace. "What's wrong?" I shouted, staring at her. Tears began to fall over the edge of my eyes.

"I think it's my time," she said quietly.

My heart stopped. "No, no it's not! It can't be! You didn't use any magic!"

"Still, it seems that it is…" she said softly.

"Let me get Lucy, then!" I said, trying to stand up. "And she'll summon Phoenix-"

Layla's hand was wrapped around my wrist.

"Elle…" she said. "You know that Magical Deficiency Disease can't be healed by Healing Magic."

"But you didn't _use_ magic!" I protested, crying more. "So that's not the problem!"

"Nontheless, something tells me that you won't be able to change this," she said, pulling me back to her. "And I want time with you when I can."

I was full out bawling now, clutching her to me. "No, you can't do this!"

"My mother used to say to me…" Layla said softly. "That the hardest part about being a Celestial Mage isn't opening a gate, but closing one...when you're not yet ready...to say goodbye."

"BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER!" I shouted. "BECAUSE I'M NOT A CELESTIAL MAGE! SO NO BODY'S GATE SHOULD CLOSE!"

She began stroking my hair. "I want to thank you, Elle. For everything. For being a daughter to me, and a sister to Lucy."

I squeezed her tighter. "Stop it! You're not going to die here! I can get another lacrima, I have one in-"

"Elle, it's my time," Layla said softly. "I don't think the lacrima would work this time."

"WHY NOT?" I screamed.

"Because it's Fate, that she dies here today," came a voice, and Corvus appeared out of the shadows. "There will be some things that you cannot change. You know that, Elle."

I stared at him, tears streaming down my face. "I refuse to believe that."

"It doesn't matter what you believe," he said softly. "It doesn't mean it's not true."

And then he disappeared back into the shadows.

I turned back to Layla. "You _can't_ do this."

"Shhh," she said, rocking me back and forth again. "It'll be okay."

"HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT?" I screamed into her chest.

"What was it you always say, Elle?" she asked softly, still rocking me. "Okay doesn't necessarily mean it's good…but there's always something positive to be found. You still have Laxus, and Lucy, and the rest of Fairy Tail, Elle. So it'll be okay…"

I let out a mix between a scream and a sob, and would've heaved another one if not for another quiet voice. "Mommy?"

I stiffened and pulled out of Layla's chest, and turned to stare at Lucy.

"Lucy," I whispered.

"Mommy, Ellie-nee, what's wrong?" she whispered.

"Lucy, come here," Layla said softly, gesturing her closer.

Lucy approached and Layla enfolded her into our hug.

"I want you to know, Lucy, that I love you _so_ much, and I am _soooo_ proud of you," Layla said.

"Mommy?" Lucy whispered.

"I loved watching you become a Celestial Spirit Mage," Layla continued. "And becoming friends with all of your spirits. I'm so proud to say that I'm the mother of the most powerful Celestial Spirit Mage to exist, and that she can even summon Cetus. And I know it won't be long before you can summon Hydra and Draco, too."

"Mommy?" Lucy whispered, her voice higher pitched now.

"I'm afraid it's time for me to go now, sweetie," Layla said, pulling back from the hug and looking Lucy in the eyes. "Something told me that I was going to leave yesterday, even. I'm just glad I was able to do a few last thing for my girls, first."

Lucy began to cry, and she grabbed at her keys and wordlessly summoned Aquarius, Cancer and Capricorn.

A smile lit up Layla's face, as she said goodbye to her previous spirits, while Lucy silently cried by my side, hugging me.

After finishing her goodbyes, and the three spirits disappeared, Layla beckoned the two of us forward.

"But since it seems like I'm going to be going anyway, and I have all of this extra magic," she said, reaching up and tracing something onto Lucy's forehead with a glowing finger. "I might as well put it to good use."

She pulled her hand away from Lucy's forehead. "There you go, darling," she finished. "I want you both to remember that I love you, very much…"

And Layla Heartfilia died smiling.

* * *

I pulled Lucy in for a hug as she sobbed, this time loud, screaming cries of emptiness. My tears had long dried by now, and I could see, from the holes in the ceiling, that dawn was approaching.

Just how long had the two of us been here, crying?

At some point, Toma had left, and not returned. Probably wanting to give us some privacy.

Lucy's cries had slowly gotten quieter, and she pulled back to notice me looking at the ceiling.

"Ellie-nee, you should go," Lucy said.

I looked down at her. "Lucy, I can't leave you right now."

She shook her head. "You said that their dragon parents disappeared, right? So they're out there, wandering and alone, with no idea where their parents are. I know where my Daddy is, and I know where you and Laxus-nii and everyone else is. You need to help them."

I bit my lip to try and stop myself from crying again, but tears spilled down my cheeks anyway. I grabbed her and pulled her into a hug. "I love you, Lucy. So much. And I'm so proud to call you my _Imouto."_

I pulled back and wiped away the last of her tears. "I promise that, if there's a bad reaction from this, I will get you as soon as possible, alright?"

Slowly, she nodded.

"Also, you should probably ask Brandish to contact her mother, and for her to return to Fiore. Actually, it might be a good idea for the two of them to move into the Magnolia Heartfilia home, since it's unoccupied…"

Lucy nodded and hugged me one last time.

I tried to smile at her one last time, and grabbed her and her keys, teleporting them back into their room, before I left to search the mountains of Fiore.

I had some dragon slayers to find.


	94. Dragon Slayer Boot Camp, Part One

**1\. Merry Orthodox Christmas, Kristina (AO3) and anyone else who celebrates!**

 **2\. I'm super sorry for the long delay. My depression has been acting up, but I've got a psychiatrist appointment on Wed. so it'll hopefully get fixed then. For now, updates my slow down. Expect a chapter a week from now, maybe, for me to get back into the grove?**

 **3\. Also, thank you IceHound (Fanfiction) for pointing out what the Wikia says about Rogue's name.**

* * *

 **Chapter Ninety Four - Dragon Slayer Boot Camp, Part One**

It's a lot easier to beat the shit out of Natsu than I thought.

Of course, this is probably because I was mentally comparing him to the Natsu of my time, vs the small, ten-year old he is, while I myself am impervious to fire.

I forgot about that.

* * *

I went for Natsu first. While I was a bit more _worried_ about Gajeel (considering where he ended up), Jose Porla was occupied with the other guilds at the Grand Magic Games, and Gajeel was a bit older than Natsu.

Natsu, however, was going to cause trouble, especially if Makarov isn't there to find him like in the last timeline.

I came across him right as he was waking up.

"Igneel…" the pink-haired kid said quietly, before waking up more suddenly and springing to life. " _Igneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeel_! IGNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEL! WHERE ARE YOU?"

I sighed and teleported directly in front of him. Natsu jumped immediately and came at me, fists blazing and screaming.

I batted him away, and he crashed into the ground.

Oops.

I winced and pulled him out of the hole, settling him down.

"Calm down, Natsu. I'm a friend, alright?" I said. "Now let me heal you."

He wasn't scratched up very badly, but using Saturn's Healing Winds helped him, and also helped him gain some trust in me.

"Who are you?" the ten-year-old whined. "And where's Igneel?"

"My name is Eleanor Rigby," I said. "Though I tend to go by Elle. I am a member of the Fairy Tail guild, a magical guild that functions as a family. As for Igneel…he had to go away…"

Tears began to pop up in Natsu's eyes. "When will he be back?"

I hugged him. "It will be awhile, Natsu. A few years."

He let out a sob, and I rubbed his back.

"Igneel loves you very much," I said quietly, rocking him a bit. "And what he's doing is to help everyone, but _especially_ you. No matter what happens, just know that Igneel is here," I tapped his chest, "watching you. So make him proud, okay?"

Still sniffling, Natsu wiped away his tears and backed away from me, wrapping his hands into fists and jumping excitedly. "Yeah! I'm all fired up, now!"

Well, that actually went a lot faster than I thought.

I smiled at him. "Now…are you ready to pick up your cousins?"

Natsu cocked his head. "Cousins?"

I nodded. "Igneel is a dragon who raised you as a dragon slayer. But he isn't the only dragon that adopted a slayer. And all of the dragons had to leave for this important mission, alright? So your cousins are out there, wandering, and alone. You ready to help me find them?"

"Yeah! That's awesome!" Natsu shouted, jumping with a small burst of fire coming from his mouth. "Let's go, Elf!"

" _Elle_ ," I said, glaring at him. "Like the letter. Got it?"

He nodded immediately, his eyes going wide. "Yes, Ma'am!"

* * *

By the time I found Gajeel, his fists were bloody.

I caught one of them before he could punch another tree. "What the hell are you doing, kid?" I asked.

He glared at me. "None of your damn business."

I sighed and took both of his hands in mine, beginning to heal them. "Natsu, give us some time alone, okay?"

"Okay, Elk!"

"What was that?" I growled.

"Sorry, Elle!" he screeched and ran.

I turned to Gajeel, who was still glaring at me.

"What do you want?" he growled.

"Sit," I said.

"Why?" he countered.

"Because I'll give you some iron," I said.

He hesitated but finally sat down.

I sat down across from him and ignored the sounds of Natsu fighting something.

Probably a forest Vulcan.

He'd probably lose soon.

"Gajeel," I said quietly.

"How do you know my name?" he demanded.

"I'm getting there," I said quietly. "For now, I want you to think of me as a messenger, alright? Metalicana didn't leave you because he wanted to; he left because he _had_ to. But he will return within a few years, alright? He's on a very important mission right now with some other dragons. Natsu, the boy who was with me? His dad disappeared today too; Igneel, the fire dragon. Your dragon will come back to you, alright?" I said softly. "But for now, I want you to join my magical guild. It's a place where you can get stronger, and you can get work, alright? Please."

He glared at me, before looking away and scoffing. "Fine."

I wanted to shout 'VICTORY' but that wouldn't be good, so instead I smiled and stood up. "Come on, let's go save your cousin."

"He's not my cousin!" Gajeel muttered as he followed me.

"Your brother, then."

"NO!"

* * *

After finally rescuing Natsu from the Vulcan, while Gajeel sat back and laughed (which lead to those two fighting), we continued on our journey, and I went to pick up Sting.

He was still crying.

I scooped the five-year-old up and hugged him. "Shhhh, it's alright Sting."

He didn't really say anything, instead clung to me and continued crying.

Behind me, I heard fighting, and turning, I saw Gajeel and Natsu rolling around on the ground.

I sighed and ignored them, still comforting Sting.

Eventually, he pulled back, looking up at me. "Who are you?"

"I'm a friend," I said quietly. "And I want you to know that Weisslogia isn't gone, okay? You'll see him again, someday."

"But…what do I do now?"

I swung him up, propping him on my hip. "For now, why don't you come to my guild, alright? You can join and practice magic and make a family of your own, okay?"

He nodded, and he turned to look behind me. I followed his gaze and watched Natsu and Gajeel continue to roll around, trying to hurt each other.

I sighed and put down Sting, before grabbing the two of them, slamming their heads together, and then teleporting the group of us to where Rogue was.

Like Sting, he was also crying, but he seemed a bit more composed.

I ignored Natsu and Gajeel as they went back to fighting each other and approached Rogue, Sting coming up next to me.

I swooped Rogue up in a hug, and after a second of hesitation, Sting hugged him too.

Though much more hesitant than Sting in accepting my hug, he finally sank into it and cried.

Not long after, he pulled away. "Who are you?"

"I'm a friend, and I want you to know that you'll see Skiadrum again someday, alright?"

He nodded.

"For now, why don't you come join my guild? You can get jobs there and increase your strength, and you won't be the only other dragon slayer. This is Sting," I gestured to the boy next to me. "His dad, Weisslogia, The White Dragon, is gone too, alright?"

I had previously thought something along the lines of… ' _Well, do I have any right to interfere with Skiadrum and Weisslogia's wishes about their sons believing to have killed them?'_

Yes. Yes, I do.

That's not how you fucking _parent_!

But, because I don't want two full grown dragons angry at me, and because I don't want the boys to think I'm luring them into some sort of stupid trick (Rogue seems a bit paranoid to me), I'm just going to allude to them not being dead.

Kinda.

"Come on Rogue; sorry, Ryos," I corrected.

"How did you know I was going to call myself that?" he asked.

I blinked. "What?"

"'Ryos'?" he repeated. "How did you know I was going to call myself that?"

I squinted at him, confused. "Is Ryos not your name?"

"No, it's Rogue," he said, shifting uneasily. "But…but I don't want to be called Rogue. Rogue can mean some …mean… things. And after what I did to Skiadrum…"

My eyes widened. "You wanted to be called Ryos because you're ashamed of your name?"

I leant down and hugged him again. "You shouldn't be ashamed of your name, Rogue. Because there's more than one definition, alright?"

He looked at me, a bit confused. "What do you mean?"

"'Rogue' can mean some…nasty things, yes. It typically means things like… 'a deviant'. Or a 'scoundrel'. But a person could also be considered 'rogue'. Someone who goes against an organization could be labeled as having 'gone rogue'. And you'll find that my guild tends to get in some trouble a lot, too. The Magic Council doesn't really like a lot of the things we do, but they can't do anything about it because we're technically not breaking any laws."

Kinda. I mean, there's always destruction of property…

"Anyway, we could all be considered 'rogues' because none of us guild members fit what Council would like as a legal mage. They just don't like how we do things, because we tend to cut through the paperwork, and get straight to action rather than sitting around planning. But I don't think you should change your name, okay?"

He looked at me and then nodded. "…Okay…"

I smiled. "Good."

I turned back to Natsu and Gajeel, who, to my surprise, had stopped fighting to listen to me talk about my guild.

"So we break the rules, gihihi?" Gajeel asked.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, you could say that. Anyway, as I've also mentioned, there are some more dragon slayers at the guild. And we've got one more dragon slayer to pick up, but I want to make sure that you guys have gotten most of your destructive shit out of the way, so we're going to practice to see how in control you guys are of your powers."

And also because I want Wendy to bond with Mystogan.

* * *

After settling down the boys, I gave them all some elements to eat and they introduced themselves.

Naturally, it devolved into a fight.

Rather quickly, Natsu and Gajeel fell into the sort of relationship they had had previously, and Sting latched onto Natsu as a big brother, while Rogue latched onto Gajeel. The two five year olds also became partners almost immediately.

I banned Gajeel from picking on Natsu, because he was three years older than Natsu, at thirteen (only a year younger than me) and he had more time training with Metalicana.

Speaking of which, I had all boys practice one of their _Roars_ , and of them, Gajeel's was the most powerful, knocking down several trees.

Natsu didn't knock down several trees – instead he ended up setting several on fire, and I had to use Neptune to stop the forest from being burned down.

Probably should have seen that coming, to be honest.

Sting managed to fire a hole through a tree, and nearly managed to knock it down.

When Gajeel made fun of him for not destroying the tree, Sting ran at it, trying to kick it over himself.

He knocked himself out.

Rogue seemed to have the most difficulty with it; his shadows weren't going where he wanted them too, and he seemed to merely be burning out most of his energy instead.

"You'll get a hang of it," I reassured him, giving him some more shadows to eat.

Inwardly, I worried about the effect shadow magic might be having on him. I know that I have weird effects from using Pluto, and there was the whole thing with Future Rogue and shit.

* * *

That night we laid out on some of Cana and Aries's fluff which I had stored, and the kids all slept.

During that time, Sting and Rogue didn't let go of me, and Natsu rolled over and hug me pretty quickly in his sleep.

I looked over at Gajeel, the last one awake other than me. ' _No one will make fun of you_ ,' I mouthed.

He 'hmphed' but moved closer to the little dragon pile and curled up with the rest of us.

* * *

I awoke to a crash.

Of course, I did.

I woke up and glared at Natsu and Gajeel, where were fighting – or more like Natsu was attacking Gajeel and sometimes getting some hits in but ultimately failing.

"Rogue, let's fight too, just like Natsu-nii!" Sting said cheerfully.

I turned my glare on them.

Sting didn't notice, but Rogue did. "I don't think Nee-san wants us to fight," he whispered.

"I can _hear_ you," I told them, before turning back to the other boys. "Gajeel! What did I say about picking on Natsu?!"

"Hey, he started it!" Gajeel retorted, throwing Natsu off of him and into a tree. "It's not my fault! I'm just defending myself."

He punched Natsu again before he could get up.

I sighed. Hitting someone when they're done doesn't really count as self-defense, but considering it was Natsu, maybe it kinda did in this case.

Gajeel was thirteen (the same age as Freed, Evergreen, Nab, etc), and Natsu was only ten. Gajeel also had several more years of training with Metalicana under his belt, so I told him to stop picking on Natsu in fights.

"Come on," I said, pulling Natsu out of the ground and waving some fire under his nose.

He woke up immediately and slurped it down.

"Where are we going?" Sting asked, still excited.

"We still have one more slayer to pick up, remember?" I asked.

"Why did we wait?" Rogue asked quietly.

"I want to make sure you wouldn't scare her off," I said.

"Wait, she's a girl?" Natsu asked, shocked.

Gajeel laughed. "Gihihiii, is she strong?"

I glared at him. "She's five and she doesn't know any offensive magic. You will behave."

He scoffed. "Fine."

I rolled my eyes. "Come on guys. Make sure you aren't leaving anything behind."

* * *

It took another twenty minutes or so before we were finally able to leave, because Gajeel hid Natsu's scarf.

Which lead to those to fighting, with Sting cheering Natsu on, while Rogue searched for the scarf and I tried to separate the little bastards.

Finally, we found the scarf and I teleported them to where Wendy and Mystogan was.

The two of them were still sleeping, curled up on a mat.

" _She's_ a dragon slayer?" Gajeel whispered.

"She's also the one who achieved Dragon Force at the youngest age," I hissed at him.

Okay, to be fair, we don't know if that's true. We don't know when Sting or Rogue got Dragon Force, but we do know that Wendy got it at twelve, during the Tartaros Arc.

But they didn't need to know that.

"Really?" Sting asked, shocked. "That's so cool!"

I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to wake them up, but once again, the choice was taken away from me.

Because (you guessed it) Natsu and Gajeel started fighting again.

I sighed.

"Wha...what's happening, Jellal-nii?" came a whisper.

Mystogan was up and had put Wendy behind him, protecting her from the unknown factor of tiny chibi destructive slayers.

"Just stay behind me, Wendy," he said.

I approached the two of them. "Hi, guys. For now, ignore those idiots. I want to talk to the two of you."

Mystogan didn't seem too keen on trusting me, but he still nodded and he and Wendy stood side by side as I explained things to them.

"Wendy," I said, starting with her. "My name is Eleanor Rigby, and I'm a member of the Fairy Tail guild. I tend to go by Elle or other nicknames. I'm here because I'm acting as a messenger for now. Grandeeney will return, I promise, but right now, she has a mission to accomplish. She didn't want to leave you, but she needed to, in order to keep you safe. All of these boys behind me," I jerked my head towards the rest of the slayers, "are also dragon slayers. Their dragon parents disappeared yesterday, too, on the same mission as your mother. We also have two more dragon slayers at the guild, though they weren't raised by dragons themselves, rather implanted with the magic. I'm gathering you guys so you know how to use your powers properly. I'd like for you to join our guild, so you can learn your magic, work jobs, and make friends and a family. Okay?"

She nodded, and hugged me. "Okay, Ella-nee!"

 _Ella-nee_? I thought.

"Yay, let's hug Ella-nee!" I heard Sting shout, and I was tackled by a bunch of dragon slayers.

"Guys, _off!"_ I commanded.

They finally let me breathe and I turned to them. "I want you guys to discuss your powers, special abilities, and how long you were training with your dragons, okay?"

There were nods, and I pulled Mystogan over to the side to talk to him privately, hoping that by turning my back for five seconds I wouldn't be dooming the forest.


	95. Dragon Slayer Boot Camp, Part Two

**Chapter Ninety Five - Dragon Slayer Boot Camp, Part Two**

"Jellal," I said quietly, and even looking exactly like my Jellal, it was weird calling him that when I knew him by Mystogan. "You already know that my name is Eleanor Rigby, but I also wish for you to know that I know of a possible future for this timeline. I would like to offer you a place in my guild as well. We function as a family, and we'd be fine with helping you with the Anima. And I know Wendy would be happy."

Mystogan stared at me for several seconds before he nodded. "Then I will join."

"Last time around, you ended up going by the name Mystogan," I continued.

"So I wouldn't get confused with my other self?" he asked.

I nodded. "The Jellal of this world is also a member of my guild."

He nodded. "I see. Then I will take the name 'Mystogan'."

I nodded and turned back to the slayers, who were surprisingly sitting around in a circle acting very civil.

What.

What?

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?

Why the _fuck_ do they break shit when I'm _watching_ , when they don't behind my back?

I took a deep breath.

Something tells me it's Wendy's fault.

"You guys aren't fighting," I said as we returned to the rest of the group.

"The kid started crying," Gajeel grunted. "So we stopped."

Yep. Wendy.

I nodded. "So what did you guys find out?"

Natsu shouted immediately. "MY DRAGON'S THE BEST!"

"Nuh-uh!" Sting shouted, trying to stand up to Natsu (despite being half his age). "Weisslogia's better!"

"NOT what I was talking about," I snapped. "How long have you all been training?"

"I've been training since I was six, so seven years for me," Gajeel grunted. "And six years for Flamebrain here, who started at four."

He looked at the three five-year-olds. "These guys have only been with their dragons for two to three years. It's surprising they've even started to develop."

"Hmm?" I asked.

"Dragon Slayers aren't human," Gajeel said. "Our lungs and bodies change in order to eat our element and support the dragon side of it. I wouldn't be surprised if these kids weren't even done with the process."

"At least it's easy to get ahold of air, shadows, and the color white," I said, shrugging. "Do you guys know the difference between eating magical elements and regular elements?"

Gajeel was the only one who understood.

"If _I_ give you the elements you eat, like yesterday, there will be an extra boost in magic because it comes directly from a mages' magic. If you eat your element in a natural state, it will give you a boost but won't be that strong."

They seemed to get the gist of it, at least.

"Alright, guys, we're gonna head to Magnolia," I said, and they started following me as I turned and walked. We were pretty close to the city, and I wanted them to get a nice view of the town before I teleported us directly into the middle of it.

"So, you guys know how you have basic attacks but also some special abilities, right?" I asked.

The kids look confused.

I elaborated. "Gajeel can coat his entire body in metal."

" _Really_?" Sting asked, his eyes shining as he looked at Gajeel. "Cool!"

"Hey, you're supposed to be on my side!" Natsu said, throwing the five-year-old up in the air and catching him.

"Natsu, stop! You're barely twice his age, no throwing children," I scolded.

"But Ella-nee!" Sting protested. "It was fun!" He turned to Natsu. "And don't worry Natsu-nii, you're still my favorite."

"I heard that," Gajeel said.

Sting hid behind Rogue.

"Anyway," I said, sighing and rolling my eyes. "I know Rogue can turn into a shadow."

"You can?" Natsu asked, staring at the boy.

In response, Rogue turned into a shadow and reformed behind Sting, who was no longer hidden from Gajeel.

"And I know Wendy has healing powers," I continued. "She still needs to learn the offensive part of her magic, but right now she has some really cool support magic."

"You can heal?" Gajeel said, looking at her with interest on his face.

I smacked the back of his head. "You will _not_ abuse Wendy's healing powers because you want to fight people."

"Oh yeah!" Natsu shouted. "She can help us recover faster. That's awesome!"

I smacked his head, too. "I just said _no_."

He pouted, and we continued on our way.

* * *

We ended up giving up before we reached the city.

After felling over a dozen trees just by _walking_ , I concluded that these idiotic male dragons needed more training, and I dropped Mystogan off at my house, pointing him toward the guild and telling him that he can settle in in the guest room if he doesn't want to join alone. And to tell them that I sent him.

This also lead to Natsu, followed by Gajeel, followed by Sting, trying to enter my house.

They all failed.

I had had Freed write into the rune walls surrounding it that Natsu, Sting and Gajeel wouldn't be able to enter without my express permission, and that they needed my permission each time they wanted to enter again.

I wasn't worried by Wendy, and I knew that I didn't have to worry about Rogue breaking things if Sting wasn't there.

When the three slayers I targeted asked why, I glared at them, told them I wanted my house intact, and continued taking them deeper in the woods, before pulling out a lacrima and calling Laxus.

"Hey, Elle, what's up?" he asked.

"Nothing much," I said. "The kids are going to need more training, so you and Erik might as well come out here and join us. What'd I miss?"

"Uh….."

* * *

Laxus looked around at the guild hall, which was in a mix between fighting everyone and a party. The announcements that had been revealed after the cancellation of the Grand Magic Games had led to a world of chaos, surprisingly _not_ caused by Elle this time around.

At least joining her meant he could leave.

* * *

"I'll tell you later," Laxus finished. "Erik and I will meet you soon. Where do you want us to go?"

"Same place I trained you, first time around," I said. "After we saved Levy."

He nodded and hung up.

I turned back to the slayers, who were all watching me with interest.

"Two more slayers will be joining us," I said. "Erik is fifteen, and Laxus is sixteen. They weren't raised by dragons, but rather had their magic given to them through a magical lacrima. Got it?"

They nodded.

"Is it just the seven of us?" Gajeel asked.

"Yeah," I said, trying to fight off the shiver of unease I got when I said that.

What the hell?

"Yeah," I repeated. "Just the seven of you."

 _For now…_ a voice whispered across my mind, and I stiffened, spinning.

"What's wrong, Ella-nee?" Sting asked.

"….Nothing, I just thought I heard something," I said quietly, turning back to them, and reminding myself that I'd used Pluto previously and that it was probably nothing.

* * *

As we waited for Laxus and Erik, we worked on teaching Wendy a roar.

Her first roar was a bit more powerful than Sting's, and it billowed over two trees.

"Wow, I did it!" she cried happily.

I scooped her up, tossing her and twirling with her. "See! I told you, it's natural. It won't be hard at all."

She smiled, a lot more determined, and started copying Gajeel and Natsu (who were actually working together for once) in trying to mimic a wing attack.

I turned as I saw Laxus and Erik arrive (without Cubellios, who Erik had probably left behind for her safety).

"Finally!" I said, spreading out my arms. "Welcome…to Dragon Slayer Boot Camp."

"It's just a forest," Gajeel complained.

"Yeah, well, you're not going to be allowed in the city until you guys get your powers under control and stop breaking everything," Laxus said, crossing his arms.

They probably passed some of the felled trees that bore scorch marks and bolts of metal in them.

"It's Flamebrain's fault!" Gajeel yelled, pointing at Natsu.

"Don't be mean to your brother," I told him.

"I already told you, Lynx, I ain't this bastard's brother."

 _Lynx_?

Well, if it had to be an animal, a cat was better than a bunny. Or a shrimp. Or a salamander…

I'm starting to see a pattern here.

Natsu was busy staring up at Laxus before… "Fight me, Laxus!"

"No," Laxus grabbed Natsu by the ankle as he sprung to attack him, and suspended him in the air.

"No fair!" Natsu complained, looking remarkably like Orga had previously (whenever Laxus hung him upside down).

I turned to Erik who was…not there.

"Erik?" I called.

"He's hiding in that tree," Laxus said, jerking his head over to a nearby tree.

"Erik, get down from there," I scolded.

"No!" He shouted. "You can't make me!"

"Erik, you are _fifteen years old_ , get out of the damn tree!"

"No fucking way, Elle! I'm not spending any time with the little monsters!"

"They're _kids,_ Erik."

"Exactly! They're evil!"

"You have no problem with Yukino, and she's the same age- no, even younger than Wendy, Sting and Rogue."

"Yukino isn't evil!" he shouted.

I closed my eyes and activated my Earth Magic, wrapping vines around Erik and pulling him down from the tree.

Natsu laughed at him from where he was still hanging from Laxus, until Laxus let go of his ankle and he fell to the ground.

"Ow!" he squeaked, rubbing his head.

"Dammit Elle, put me down!" Erik cried.

"No!" I replied, using the vines to shake him. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I already told you, they're _evil_."

I sighed. "Which ones are evil?"

"All of them?"

I glared at him. "You answered in a question. Which ones are definitely evil?"

I can't believe I'm _indulging_ him.

"The girl and the shadow kid."

Wendy burst into tears, any confidence from her new offensive abilities now gone. "I-I'm not evil!"

"I can _hear_ your _soul_ ," Erik said. "You're evil. Your dragon is terrifying."

She continued to cry.

I dropped Erik on the ground. "Go hug your sister, right now. Apologize."

"No!"

Laxus sighed and scooped up Wendy. "Hey, it's alright, kiddo. You're not evil."

She wiped away her tears. "I'm not?"

"No, you're not. Erik is just…being a meanie."

If I wasn't so tired of all of this, I would've laughed at the look on Laxus's face. Instead, I sighed. "Alright, should we get started?"

"No way, I'm not working with them, I already told you Elle, they're _evil!_ "

At this, Wendy burst into tears again, Natsu started beating up Sting for absolutely no reason, Rogue sunk into the shadows, Gajeel tried to attack me before he ended up like Erik did, and Laxus looked like he wanted to kill something.

Erik had also gotten back in the tree again.

I sighed. This was going to take awhile.

* * *

Later that night, most of us were on the ground, sleeping.

Erik was next to me, on my right, as far as possible from any other slayers, and Laxus lay on my other side.

Sting, Wendy, Rogue and Natsu had all found ways to curl up around us, and I wasn't looking forward to Erik's reaction when he woke up.

"Laxus, can we talk?" I asked quietly.

He nodded and gently moved any kids off of us, before we walked through the forest out of the kids' hearing range.

"So what happened at the guild?" I asked. "And what about the Games?"

"They were cancelled," Laxus said quietly. "There wasn't any real reasoning, but I think it was because….because of Layla's death."

My eyes filled with tears, and I hugged him, clutching at him. "I feel like it's my fault."

* * *

"Where'd Ella-nee go?" Wendy asked, waking up and searching around. She saw where Elle and Laxus were talking in the distance, and made to go for them.

A hand on her arm stopped her. "Don't," Erik said quietly. "Elle needs this. Just let them have some privacy."

Wendy met his eyes, and a moment of understanding passed between them.

She nodded and laid back down, curling up next to the other small slayers.

Erik sighed and scooted away from them before laying down himself.

Maybe they weren't so bad, after all.

He closed his eyes and tried to block out the sound of Elle's crying.

* * *

"Elle, it's not your fault," Laxus said, holding me. "Corvus told us all that it was inevitable. She was going to die anyway. Even if you had been the one to open the gate instead, she still would have died, Elle."

"I still feel like it's my fault," I said, wiping at my tears. "I should have at least known."

After my crying settled down, I continued the questioning. "What happened to Lucy? And Jude?"

"They went back to the Konzern," Laxus said. "And started preparing the funeral. I don't think we're invited."

A pang hit me in my heart as he said that.

"I think that's why, when we got back, Enno and Macao were calling off the wedding."

I almost shouted at that, but remembered the tiny sleeping slayers nearby. "What? _Why_?"

"Enno never announced her bridesmaids," Laxus said quietly. "And I'm pretty sure that Layla was gonna be her maid of honor. Even though Layla is a few years older, they've been good friends for the past few years."

 _That was right_ , I though, trying to ignore the squeezing sensation around my chest.

They were so close when they first met, at the first Grand Magic Games.

"Anything else happen?" I asked, trying to distract myself.

He nodded again. "To try and cheer Enno up, Ur and Mom revealed a secret; they're both pregnant."

My eyes widened.

I was _not_ expecting that.

" _Really_?" I squeaked.

He nodded. "Ur's twins are due sometime in September, and…Mom's kid will probably be born in November. I think Mom and Gildarts are also planning on getting married after the baby is born."

"Why didn't they tell anyone?" I asked.

"You know, they never really explained _why_ they were keeping it a secret…" he muttered, before shaking his head. "I'll just ask later. Anyway, uh…Erik and I realized we could smell their pregnancy which led to the revelation earlier today that _Enno_ was pregnant too, so the wedding is actually back on."

I blinked, staring at him. "So the wedding was cancelled for one day, brought back, and Ur, Mari, and Enno are all pregnant, in that order?"

He nodded. "Enno is due in February, I think. She's nearing the two-month mark now."

"Geez, that's nuts," I muttered. At least Romeo was on the way, though.

"I think Enno wants to get married in August, if she can, but she's fine with postponing it for a few more months if she has too," Laxus continued, and we strode back to the other kids.

I nodded as we laid down again, curling into him as best I could, surrounded by tiny slayers. "Alright. Goodnight, Laxus."

"Goodnight, Elle," he replied, closing his eyes and sleeping.

I closed my eyes too, and fell into a dream where I was wearing white and Laxus was waiting for me at the end of an isle.

* * *

 **Based on the headcanon that Wendy's dragon is one of the loudest.**

 **In the previous timeline, Erik became Cobra, a member of a dark guild, and has seen some pretty tough things. And he encountered Wendy at the age of twelve.**

 **In this fic, he was spared most of the trauma and dark shit that came with being a member of the Oracion Seis, and he met Wendy when she was five, when her dragon should not be that terrifying.**

 **That is why he is scared.**

 **And since Rogue had issues with his shadow I made his dragon scary too.**

 **For those of you who read DoD, this won't be a problem there because Wendy's dragon won't compare to Acno's. So Erik is fine.**


	96. Dragon Slayer Boot Camp, Part Three

**Alright everyone, I'm back in Boston (tomorrow is the first day of school).**

 **To celebrate and thank Dark Rose Charm who reviewed on every single chapter and got out review count (on fanfiction) over 2,000, I spent my time on the plane finishing up this chapter.**

 **Though it will also probably be a few days for the next chair until I get used to my schedule.**

* * *

 **Chapter Ninety Six - Dragon Slayer Boot Camp, Part Three**

I practically woke up blushing, still remembering the dream.

Before I could do anything else though, there was a shriek beside my right ear, and when I turned to look, Erik was already in a tree.

The kids lying on me and Laxus woke up, looking around.

"Is it a Vulcan?" Gajeel asked.

"Can we fight it?" Natsu asked eagerly.

"No," I said, rolling my eyes. "It's Erik. He's fine now, he just didn't want to wake up near you guys."

Natsu laughed.

"Is….is he still scared of me?" Wendy asked quietly.

"…YES!" Erik yelled from the tree.

Wendy started crying again and hugged me.

I picked her up and stroked her hair. "Don't worry, he'll adjust eventually."

I turned to glare at Erik. "Erik, get your ass down here. We still need to train."

He complied, though looking at the kids warily the whole time.

"Alright, we're gonna pair up," I said, still glaring. "And we'll join back here for lunch. First; Laxus and Natsu."

Laxus gave out a huge sigh while Natsu jumped for joy.

"Gajeel and Rogue."

Rogue gave me a small smile, and Gajeel, though he huffed, seemed happy to be with one of the ones he didn't actively dislike (cough Natsu and Sting, cough).

"Erik and Sting."

Erik heaved a sigh of relief, but he still eyed Sting warily.

Wendy cried a bit more.

"And me and Wendy," I finished.

She clutched me tighter.

I glared at Erik. _We're gonna fucking talk later,_ I mentally told him.

He gave a small nod.

Until I could understand what his problem was with Wendy and Rogue, the idea was to adjust him to a smaller slayer, but the only one he wasn't actively scared of was Sting.

"Alright, we're going to separate and practice on control, alright? Then we'll move to new attacks."

I took Wendy and started walking her ways away.

"What are we gonna do, Ella-nee?" she asked.

I requipped out my bow and arrow. "We're going to practice your strength."

Ever since my period, I'd been training with a bow and arrow, and with a bo staff, because I wouldn't be able to use magic on the potion. Porlyusica said that if I was powerful enough, I might be able to, but I still haven't reached a point of being strong enough, so I was practicing with weapons to defend myself.

With the amount of pain the cramps put me in, I think it would honestly be harder to fight without the potion, even if I had my magic.

"I want you to stand to the side," I said. "I'm going to be putting some arrows in that tree over there. I want you to blow them off-course."

Wendy nodded, a bit frightened, but also a little determined.

We practiced like that for awhile; Wendy using roars to knock my arrows off-course until she was able to merely do it with a wave of her hand.

And while it wasn't _much_ off-course (I hit the tree next to the one I was aiming) it was a good enough start.

* * *

We regrouped with the others for lunch, and Laxus complained about Natsu being unable to control himself.

I sighed and requipped a pair of the magic cuffs I had had, adjusting the settings on them to allow for practicing at refinement.

"Put these on, Natsu," I told him.

"Why?" he whined.

I glared at him. "Because I said too, and you'll never get to meet your princess until you can."

He brightened. "I get a princess? Awesome!"

"Why do you care about a princess?" Gajeel grunted.

"All dragons need a princess!" Natsu declared. "That's what Igneel told me."

"Well your dragon is stupid!" Gajeel declared.

"You take that back!" Natsu shouted, tackling Gajeel across the clearing.

I sighed.

But abruptly, Gajeel punched Natsu in the other direction and turned to me. "Hey, Lynx, where are we gonna live?"

"Well, there are several places you guys can stay. There's Fairy Hills, for girls, Fairy Valleys, for boys, and Fairy Fields, for double suites. For instance, if one of you guys want to live with someone else, then you could do that. You also don't need to pay until you turn thirteen."

"But _I'm_ thirteen," Gajeel said, crossing his arms.

"And you start out at zero," I said. "First rent of month is free. Second is 10,000 Jewels, and another 10,000 is added to rent each month until you hit normal rent amount, which is 100,000 Jewels. Fairy Fields is 150,000 Jewels a month, but you're also splitting the rent in half, and you get a discount if anyone living there is under the age limit.

Gajeel turned a curious look to Rogue, and I figured he was considering rooming with Rogue to save money.

"Still…" he said, grunting. "Didn't really answer my question."

I frowned. "Then what was your question?"

"He wants to know if there's anywhere around here he can hide his hoard," Erik said.

Gajeel froze before turning and trying to punch Erik (who heard it coming and dodged). "We're not supposed to tell non-slayers about that, idiot!"

"Calm down, we can trust Elle," Erik said, batting Gajeel away. "If anyone can help you find the right place, it'll be her. In fact, she might even give you some stuff to start it off."

"Hoard?" Laxus asked, frowning. "I haven't felt the urge to hoard anything."

"What about Elle?" Erik teased.

Laxus flushed and looked away from me.

I rolled my eyes.

"Besides, you do hoard things, you just don't seem to really realize."

"Like what?" Laxus asked.

"Music, for one," Erik said, gesturing to the SoundPod tucked into Laxus's pocket.

Laxus blinked and looked down at it. "Yeah, I mean….I guess you _could_ say I collect music…"

"You like soft things too," I commented.

"What makes you say that?" Laxus asked.

The first thing I thought of was his iconic fur coat, which I had yet to see in this timeline. But I ignored that and continued with some of the obvious. "I dunno, I just remember you mentioning the fluff a lot and talking about how comfy the beds in Mercurius were."

"Elle is soft, too!" Natsu piped up.

Laxus's forehead twitched. "And how do _you_ know that?"

I tried to stop giggling, before turning to Erik. "What do you collect?"

He shrugged. "I like sounds. Souls in particular can be pretty nice to listen to. It's actually the way I became best friends with Macbeth."

I gave him a questioning look.

Erik looked away. "Even with everything that was around us, his soul was…nice. So I followed the sound."

I resisted the urge to 'awww' and instead just hugged him.

"What's wrong?" Wendy's voice asked softly.

"A lot of people in Fairy Tail have bad pasts," Laxus said quietly. "Most of us are still recovering."

Erik pulled out of the hug and I turned to change the conversation. "Natsu, what do you want to hoard?"

"Gold!" he shouted. "Because Igneel said that all classic dragons hoard gold!"

"Yeah, well Igneel is stupid!" Gajeel shouted, tackling Natsu this time.

I rolled my eyes. "You know, Gajeel, I happen to know that your father had a great deal of respect for Igneel."

He stopped mid-fight. "Really?"

I nodded and turned to Natsu. "And Natsu?" I continued in a sing-songy voice. "What if I told you that your princess had golden hair?"

His eyes lit up. "Really? That's perfect!"

He was so excited he was practically on fire. "I can't wait to meet her!"

I put my hands on my hips as he actually _did_ burst into flames. "Natsu, you're on fire right now. You can't meet her until I know you can have your magic under control."

His flames went out immediately, but not because of control; but because he was extremely sad now.

"How about you Gajeel?" I asked him.

"Food," he grunted, and Sting nodded.

"You guys like to hoard food?" I asked.

"They mean their elements," Erik explained.

"So precious metals and things that are…white?" I asked.

They both nodded.

"I like shiny white things," Sting said, nodding.

I sweatdropped. Well, Sting was probably going to want the most expensive things.

Like diamonds.

Of course he was.

"Wendy, Rogue? What about you guys?"

"I don't know," Wendy said softly. "I haven't really felt the urge to hoard anything yet…"

"Probably because you're so young," Gajeel grunted. "Plus, I've heard that female dragon slayers don't start hoarding until they hit an older age. Don't know whether or not it's true, but it could be a few years before you start collecting anything specific."

Wendy nodded.

"What about you Rogue?" I asked him.

"I guess I like animals," he said hesitantly. "Maybe I could get some pets or something. Snakes are kinda cool…"

"NO WAY!" Erik shouted, looming over the small boy. "SNAKES ARE MY SHTICK! GET SOMETHING ELSE!"

And then he remembered he was scared of Rogue and hid behind me.

I sighed.

"Like what?" Rogue asked.

"I dunno, an amphibian or something! Just stay away from reptiles!" Erik hissed behind me.

"I guess I like frogs…" Rogue said.

I tried to hide my laughter.

I wonder why Frosch wasn't dressed up like a snake last time around? Unless something happened that turned Rogue off of snakes. Or maybe Frosch didn't want to be dressed up as a snake, but a frog. Or maybe Rogue just found Frosch that way and realized he liked frogs.

Or maybe I'm thinking into all of this too deeply and should stop.

"Animals are nice…" Wendy said softly. "I like birds…maybe I could collect feathers. Some of them are really pretty…"

"Wendy, do you want to collect feathers because you feel an urge to, or because you don't want to be left out of the hoarding process?" I asked gently.

She looked down. "The second one."

I scooped her up. "Hey, don't get yourself down, okay? You know what? Last time around, you ended up getting your Dragon Force at a young age."

"Or maybe it's the opposite way around and girls mature faster?" Gajeel muttered. I ignored him.

"So why don't we try and beat that record, okay? Let's try to get you to Dragon Force by the time you're eight."

She smiled a bit. "O-Okay, Ella-nee."

I hugged her and plopped her down on a seat.

"Ella-nee?"

I turned. It was the first time Rogue had called me that. "Yeah?"

"What do you mean by 'last time around'?" he asked.

I sighed. I guess I never really explained that properly, huh.

"Laxus will explain the whole story to you," I said, standing up.

"I will?" he asked surprised.

I rolled my eyes and tossed some blank Memory Cards at him. "Just use these, geez. I need to talk to Erik."

"Why?" Erik asked warily.

I glared at him. "Because I'm mad at you and I'm going to get even angrier if you _don't_ come talk with me."

He slumped, and I dragged him off while leaving Laxus to tell my slightly traumatizing story.

"Alright, you're going to tell me your problem with Wendy and Rogue, and you're going to tell me _now_ ," I said crossing my arms.

Erik looked away, slightly in shame. "Look, I – it's a long story."

"So is my own," I said. "And if Laxus finishes that, I'm sure he can reset the memory cards with something entertaining enough to keep them occupied. Start talking. Now."

Erik sighed again. "Look, I know they're kids and all, but…well…" he frowned. "Give me a bit, uh….Okay, so the Tower. When I was there I lived in a pretty much constant state of fear, right?"

I nodded.

"Eventually, though, all of us began to adjust. As horrible as the Tower was, the group of us was together, so it wasn't that bad all the time. As long as we didn't do anything too troublesome, like trying to fight back, sneak out, and steal food, we were okay. Yeah, there wasn't a lot of food, and we were always working, but we _adjusted._ "

"Okay," I said. "So…"

"I'm getting there, Elle," Erik said, sighing. "After that…after that, Brain took us away. At the time, it was like he _saved_ us, but it wasn't much better there, and I think, on some level, all of us realized that, even Macbeth. Back when he still practically worshipped Brain as his father. But despite the fact that he looked up to him (and we all did, except Richard, until a certain point) we were still wary; we could never fully relax."

I waited.

"Up until you saved us, the most scared I've ever been was when one of the guards were going to hurt Macbeth, because he had fallen asleep when working. We protected him, and I thought for sure I was going to die. In a way, that day _scarred_ me. Things that leave a big impact reside in the soul, not the mind, and that's why it's so easy for me to remember the damn thing."

I frowned, holding up a hand. "Wait."

God had said that I would eventually remember, but that she blocked my memories of my previous life because they hadn't been very good. And what about people who block their own memories when something traumatizing happens?

"But some people specifically block their memories," I said.

Erik nodded. "As far as I can tell, that's when it becomes a fight between mind and soul. The mind blocks it off and tries to forget it, but it's still etched in ones' soul. So some of the things they do are still in line with anything that had happened to them previously."

Alright, that made sense. But getting back to the topic…

"Okay, so about the time they were possibly going to kill Macbeth?" I asked.

"That was the day Brain arrived. Probably another reason why Macbeth looked up to him so much. He interrupted the guards and ended up taking us away. But that day…I still remember the fear I felt."

"So where are you going with this?" I asked.

His eyes looked up. "But that fear is shadowed by a different time. The time you were kidnapped."

I raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"We were all scared and sad when we had to leave, Elle," he said softly, hugging me, and I absently hugged him back. "But not that scared. Freedom was on the horizon; there was mostly hope in our minds. And then I heard you get knocked out and them take you away. And when we got to the guild and had to deliver the news…that's when I was really scared."

"Why?" I asked.

He pulled back and smirked at me. "Your boyfriend went all 'crazy hero' on us, trying to find you."

I tried to hide my blush. "I still don't get where you're going with this, Erik."

He sighed. "That day, Laxus's dragon was probably the scariest thing I'd ever heard. _Ever_. I remember being absolutely relieved that the anger wasn't focused on me, and I was astounded by how he managed to control himself. If they couldn't actively _hear_ him, they just thought he was mad. But he was on a whole different level, Elle."

He looked back to where the other Slayers were, even though neither of us could see them. "Those two kids…they're nowhere near what Laxus was on that day, but they're _extremely_ loud and angry. It makes it even worse considering their age. They're fucking _five_. That's why I'm scared of them. _It's not right_."

I paused. "Okay, I get it. I'll admit, that's actually a pretty valid thing to be concerned about. But also try and remember that neither kids seem to _know_ about how terrifying their inner dragons are, and that they're still five-year-old kids who are hurt by what you're doing."

He sighed, looking away. "Yeah, I get it."

I smiled at him, taking his arm. "Come on then, let's go."


	97. The Dragon Prince

**Chapter Ninety Seven - The Dragon Prince**

There was a rustling outside her window, and a sound as if someone was trying to break in.

Her room was on the third floor.

"I wonder if I'll get in trouble for killing an intruder," Lucy muttered.

….It had been over two weeks since her mother had died, and her father can't look at her.

Her dad can't look at her because Lucy looks too much like her mother, but Lucy can't look at herself either.

When she looks in the mirror, she sees a symbol on her forehead. A star, drawn out with Layla's remaining magic. One that glowed as she used power. A final gift from her mother.

No one, other than her or her spirits, can see it unless she's using magic. The more magic she uses, the more vivid it becomes.

The final gift from her mother, and Lucy didn't know if there was a way to keep it forever.

So she hasn't been using her magic.

The funeral had been closed casket, and the only ones there were Lucy and Jude. Even the servants weren't allowed, and it brought tears to Lucy's eyes as she thought about it.

She knew that Brandish, and her mother, Grammi (who had left Alvarez permanently, now) had gone to pay their respects on a separate occasion, but she also knew that both would've liked to be invited.

Elle would've liked to be invited.

Lucy had told them about Elle's suggestion, and Grammi had sighed, taken the keys for the Magnolia house, and left with Brandish.

Lucy knew she'd be seeing them soon. It was all up to Elle, who would be by soon and knock some sense into her father.

Hopefully not literally.

But whatever was rustling at the window was _not_ Elle.

Because Elle does not rustle by windows.

Elle teleports directly indoors.

And so, this was decidedly not Elle.

The window opened and Lucy tensed, ready to summon Corvus at a moments notice, despite her apprehension at using her magic.

And then –

A head full of a shock of sakura pink hair popped up.

"Hi!" the boy said brightly. "I'm Natsu! You're Luigi, right? Elle sent me! She said to give you this!"

He handed over a letter that was slightly singed on the edges.

Warily, Lucy summoned Virgo instead (at least that took less magic than Corvus), to keep watch, and began to read the letter while the boy ( _Natsu_?) was busy talking with her spirit.

It _sounded_ like they were talking about the best ways to burn someone, but she tried to ignore that and focus on the letter.

 _Dear Lucy,_

 _First, I'm sorry it took so long. There was some…complications. As you know, all of the kids are dragon slayers. Unfortunately, they don't have much control over their powers, bar one. Considering they couldn't even walk through a clearing in a forest without breakings something, further training was required to get these idiots suitable for civilization._

Lucy paused. Yeah, that didn't sound so good. And Elle had also mentioned something about them living with dragons out in the wilderness, so it makes sense that there wasn't anything really focused on civilization.

 _The one who stands before you is Natsu Dragneel, the Fire Dragon Slayer._

 _Do you remember when we first met, and I asked your opinions on the different types of magical creatures you like, so I could get a feel for what spirits you'd really want?_

 _Remember how I mentioned that you don't need a stupid prince, and that you'll be best friends with a dragon._

 _I was wrong. Sorry. You'll be best friends with a dragon WHO IS ALSO A PRINCE._

 _Natsu's father was Igneel, the Fire Dragon King._

 _That makes Natsu your dragon prince. Have fun._

 _Elle_

 _P. S. Also, pack any necessities you need, and I'll meet you guys later to take you back to Magnolia. Natsu knows what I'm talking about._

Lucy blinked, and read the letter again - there was a surprising lack of cursing for Elle, which made her worry about her sister -, before looking up at Natsu (her _dragon prince_ ) who was doing some sort of odd dance with Virgo.

"Virgo?" Lucy asked. "Did you know Natsu before?"

Virgo continued her dancing, while nodding her head once. "Yes, Hime-sama. Natsu-sama was your partner. You were very close, and I distinctly remember him fighting anyone who threatened your safety."

Lucy flushed as she remembered how Elle had told her that her dragon protected her.

"Well, yeah," Natsu said, stopping his dancing. "That's not cool! Why would someone hurt Luigi?"

Lucy resisted the urge to hit her head.

 _This…._ was her _dragon….prince_.

Who couldn't even get her name right.

He just lost any points he had just earned.

 _Ellie-nee! Come on!_

Why couldn't her dragon be a bit more like Laxus or Erik? This kid was totally immature, and seemed ridiculous.

"What's wrong, Luigi?" Natsu asked.

Lucy sighed and refrained from snapping. She had had training for things like this, dammit. "First off, my name is Lucy. Say it with me."

"I know," Natsu said, nodding. "But Elle said to call you Luigi until you corrected me."

Breathe in. Breathe out.

 _Ellie-nee probably had her reasons_ , Lucy thought.

But then again…Elle's reasons could also consist of 'it was funny' or that it was referencing something.

"Okay, so what's my name?" Lucy asked.

"Lucy!" Natsu said, smiling brightly at her, and she felt her cheeks flush.

"Oh – okay…" Lucy stammered, trying to remember what else she was going to say, and trying to stop comparing the way that Natsu was looking at her to the way that Laxus sometimes looked at Elle.

"Why were you so sad, Lucy?" Natsu said. "You should smile! You're prettier when you smile."

She could feel her whole face heating up.

"You really think so?" she asked.

Natsu nodded. "Your hair is just like gold!"

Well, she _had_ heard that before.

"He liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiikes you," a voice said from the side, and Lucy looked over at her spirit in horror.

"Virgo! What are you doing!" she squeaked.

"I'm currently filling a missing post," she replied. "Your faithful companion will join the two of you within a year though, have no worries."

"Faithful companion?" Lucy muttered, while Natsu turned to Virgo.

"Of course I like her!" Natsu said, and Lucy was 90% sure her face was redder than Erza's hair. "Elle said we're gonna be partners! And Lucy's nice!"

Her flush began to fade as she realized Natsu's naivety, and once again, sighed.

He was so immature. Yes, Elle had said that they were partners and best friends, but was she really _best_ _friends_ with someone like him?

And more than that...he was one of the reasons her mother died.

She shook the thought away, knowing it wasn't true. Corvus had said that it inevitable, and there was no point in blaming this kid for that. He had lost his parent, too.

"Cheer up, Lucy!" Natsu said. "You shouldn't be so sad!"

He held out his hand. "Come on, let's go! Everyone at the guild is waiting for you."

Lucy began to smile, and felt an odd feeling of hope bubbling in her chest.

This boy had just lost his father, but he was still happy, and that joy was contagious.

As she took his hand, she thought she might be fine, and she began to understand just _why_ she was best friends with this boy.

"Yeah," she said happily. "Let's go home."

* * *

"Jude, we need to talk," I said, stepping forward.

It had over two weeks since the Dragon Slayers arrival (since Layla's death) and it was time to retrieve Lucy.

Finally.

You see, we actually got the slayers through the training within the two week time period I wanted, but the utter chaos that happened when they joined the guild was cause for more delay.

Somehow, within seconds of walking in, it was already a mess.

And by somehow, I mean Natsu saw both Gray and Lyon, who had stripped, and laughed, pointing at them. "Perverts!"

And it turned into a battle.

Gray went for Natsu immediately, and when Lyon went to join them, Gajeel intercepted him.

While he may not get along with Natsu, he still believed that as a slayer they were better than two strippers, and so began the Gajeel – Lyon rivalry, equal to the lengths of the Natsu – Gray one.

This, of course, threw more than a few other people into chaos, and the only reason everything stopped was because Master raised his voice, Wendy started crying, and Ultear managed to drag her idiot brothers away from the slayers.

And that was how they were introduced into the guild.

In addition to that, at some point, Warren had joined the guild.

Just like that, while we were gone.

 _Why,_ I still don't understand.

So I told him told the sixteen year old telepath (still can't believe he's the same age as Laxus) to start practicing spreading his mental coverage across of all of Magnolia.

Then (now that everything was calm), I turned to the others and began doling out instructions.

"Levy!" I called.

She looked up. "Yeah, Elle-chan?"

"I need you to tutor Gajeel," I said, pointing him to a chair. He sat there, grumbling his complaints, but Levy came over and they began to communicate.

Plan GALE was a go. Not only would Gajeel and Levy (hopefully) start crushing on each other, but Gajeel would also get a better handle on modern tech and society.

"Yukino!" I called.

"Ellie-nee?" the little girl asked softly. Now at four years old (and wow, that was a weird thought, I've known her for almost two years now), she still wasn't as talkative as many of the other kids her age, but she was more _likely_ to talk now. Sometimes, though, she still just cuddles up and hugs people.

With reason, I mean, who doesn't want hugs?

I scooped her up and swirled her around. "Alright, Yukino, I have some kids your age to introduce you to."

I lead her, Sting, Rogue, and Wendy over to a corner, where they all sat down and began to talk to each other.

I turned to Orga. "Will you watch them for me?"

He beamed. "Sure, Nee-chan!"

At nine years old, his adorableness was still going, and I would make sure it didn't vanish forever.

Nuh-uh.

This child will _remain_ adorable.

And this lead to their group talking.

Wendy spent time with them, but mostly it was just Orga watching over Sting, Rogue, and Yukino.

 _Well, might as well screw Sabertooth, now_.

Just gotta pick up Rufus and Minerva and I'll have the set.

And maybe Dobengal.

While Wendy _did_ hang onto them a little bit, she mostly drifted and then ultimately latched onto Erza and Jellal (who she thought was _her_ Jellal).

And thus I had to bring in Mystogan.

I went to my house, where he had dressed himself up almost exactly as he had in his previous life (and on a tiny twelve-year-old, that just looked silly), and brought him to the guild.

Which lead to the explanation of 'yes, Edolas is a world parallel to our own', 'yes, there are different versions of us running around there', and 'yes, they're trying to drain the magic from this world to use themselves and I'm here to stop them'.

….and then there was chaos again.

Eventually, I managed to calm them down, start up some schooling for the kids, and finally leave for Lucy.

I'd get the kids jewelry when we get back.

But, anyway, this lead to plan NALU starting.

So I was now in Jude's office, since he was up late and working, while a few rooms over, Natsu was helping Lucy run away.

I would say 'sneaking her out' but seeing as this is Natsu, it is also known that that is not possible.

Natsu can't 'sneak' for his life. He doesn't know _how_ to be stealthy.

* * *

Okay. So Lucy was fine with returning to the guild. She was _very happy_ returning to the guild.

She was NOT happy with Natsu scooping her into his arms, and jumping out of her bedroom window.

On the third floor.

Which lead to a lot of screaming on the way down.

…So much for a stealthy exit.

"LUCY KICK!" she yelled once they landed, kicking Natsu in the chest, who ended up flying several feet away and breaking a tree.

"What was that for?" Natsu groaned from the wreckage.

"You deserved it!"

* * *

Jude stood up immediately at my voice, and his eyes widened as he spotted me. "Get out! You're not welcome here, Elle."

I said nothing, merely glared at him.

"I said GET OUT!" he shouted, raising his voice.

"No."

He began to stride forward.

"Layla would be ashamed," I said.

He froze in his tracks.

"To say that you were her husband. Right now, you're not the person she married, and if you don't fix it, you'll destroy your life forever."

I glared at him, before sighing and looking away. "Look, I _get_ that you're mourning. You lost your wife. But Lucy lost her _mother_. And I – I lost a…a friend."

I looked back up and stared into his eyes. "But you still have Lucy. She's still your family. I get that it can be painful to look at her, because she looks exactly like Layla, so I'll be leaving with her."

"What?" Jude asked, and worry crossed his face.

I mentally breathed a sigh of relief. This could work out, after all - he still actively cared for her.

"Right now, you need some space," I said. "And time to mourn. Lucy will move into the Magnolia house with Grammi and Brandish. Don't worry about her magical education, I know how to handle it. If you want her to go on less jobs, though, I suggest you set up some sort of account at the bank, maybe for Grammi to help run the household."

The silence settled between us, and I knew that _he_ knew I was right.

"When you're ready to see her again, we'll be waiting."

Jude sighed. "Then maybe…it's for the best."

"Hope to see you by Christmas," I said, teleporting to the front yard, where Lucy was currently telling Natsu about Draco, who she'd probably be able to summon in a few years.

"Alright, you two," I told them, smiling at them and taking their hands, and ignoring the bruising on Natsu's face that was probably the result of a Lucy Kick. (I did warn him). "Let's go."

And as they smiled back up at me, we vanished, going home.

* * *

 **Okay, notes!**

 **First, I need to apologize to you guys. There's been some complication with my meds for awhile now, and since I've been so depressed, most of it leaked into the story. So the angst was probably a LITTLE MORE angsty than it was originally going to be.**

 **Also Elle likes hugs because I am currently lacking.**

 **Thought you ought to know.**


	98. Slayers and Snakes

**Okay, a few things.**

 **Forgot to tell you, but I added stuff to the Games in chapter 93, if you want to go back and read from the time they arrive to the day the Heartfilias spend together. Unless you read the WHOLE chapter, you shouldn't get too depressed. If you read chapter 93 _after_ the 94th chapter was posted, with the Dragon Slayers, then you're fine (see, I forgot to tell you awhile ago).**

 **Also, I changed and fixed the poll on my profile. If any of you guys are having trouble voting, please let me know. If you could go and vote, I'd really appreciate it.**

 **If their name isn't on there, then they're already paired or won't end up in a relationship. Feel free to PM me about any specific character you'd like to know about.**

* * *

 **Chapter Ninety Eight - Slayers and Snakes**

When we got back, there was (of course) a party for Lucy's return.

She was still a bit upset over what happened to her family, but she was glad to be back home.

"Hey, cheer up," I told her, rubbing her back. "It's not you, okay? It seems like everyone of our generation have asshole fathers."

"Hey!" Gildarts, Silver, Rex, and even Macao said.

"I'm kinda offended for Dad, too," Cana said. Gray nodded besides her.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, _asshole or stupid fathers_."

The kids nodded, satisfied.

"Hey!" Gildarts and Silver turned on their kids.

"It's still true," Gray said, before the two of them vanished back into the party.

I smiled, laughing and nudging Lucy's side. "Get going, Lucy. Your dragon's finally here. I think you should teach him how to dance."

Lucy smiled and nodded, hopping off of the chair and grabbing Natsu away from Gray, who he had started to fight with. Upon seeing that Natsu was dancing with a girl, Gray grabbed Juvia (while blushing the whole time) and dragged her to the middle of the guild, too.

"Asshole fathers, huh?" Laxus muttered, sitting down beside me.

I smiled softly at him and leaned into his side. "Maybe this generation has shitty dads, but the next one will, at the very least, have one _amazing_ dad," I said quietly, squeezing his arm.

He blushed a bright red and looked away, but pulled me into his side. "Thanks, Elle. They're going to have a pretty amazing mom, too."

"She's already pretty much the mom for half of this generation," Erik said as he passed us by, headed for a platter of poisonous berries that Mari had for him.

Now I was blushing like crazy, but it also warmed my heart.

There was a crash, and Erigor passed us by, cackling madly.

"Get him, babies!" Bickslow shouted, riding on top of his souls. "Come on, Evergreen! Freed!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" Evergreen shouted, chasing after them.

"I'm taking _no part in this_ ," Freed shouted from where he sat beside Levy, decoding something.

"Where did the catnip go?" Millianna asked.

"Millianna, no!" Kagura shouted, chasing after the girl.

"MY CAKE!" Erza shouted halfway across the guild.

I smiled at Laxus. "Now it's starting to sound like home."

Within seconds, almost the entire guild was in a brawl, with the exception of Orga and all of the kids he brought over (Wendy, Sting, Rogue and Yukino). Even Sting tried to join in on the fighting, but Rogue held him back.

"Hey guys," I told them.

"Can you pick me up, Ellie-nee?" Yukino asked.

"Sure," I said, grabbing her. She was still small for her age, and easy to carry, and sometimes she liked to just curl up on me and rest her head on my shoulder while I rocked her back and forth.

"Thanks," she said quietly.

"No problem," I said, basking in the feeling of my home.

* * *

Eventually the kids calmed down and I lead them all into the training room. "Treasure time!"

"Treasure?" Gajeel asked.

"I told you that Elle would probably help you start it off," Erik said to him.

"No adults allowed!" Natsu shouted, slamming the door shut before anyone of the older generation could enter.

"I count for our generation, idiot!" Erigor shouted, banging on the door.

I rolled my eyes and opened it, pulling him in.

"Why can't we go in?" Gildarts asked.

"I'll tell you later," I said, slamming the door shut in their faces and activating the runes.

"Wait, there was actually a reason for keeping adults out?" Erigor asked incredulously.

"Yes, not that Natsu knew it," I said, glaring at the boy, who pouted and hid behind Lucy.

"Anyway, on to the treasure," I said, standing in the middle of the room and rubbing my hands together eagerly, trying to ignore the birthday chart on the wall behind me.

Layla's name was still on it. It hurt to see it, but it would hurt even more for it to be gone.

So it was easier to just not think about it.

"I wanna see!" Sting said excitedly. "Ella-nee, where's the treasure?"

I stared at him, focusing my attention back to the kids, because everyone knows you can't take your eyes off them for five seconds. "Calm down. Story time first."

He pouted but sat down, crossing his ankles and scooting closer to Natsu.

Yukino joined them willingly, sitting next to Lucy (who sat next to her dragon). Rogue was dragged along, too, and Gajeel ended up seated near them as well, next to Rogue and Levy, who was with Lucy.

Natsu and Gajeel glared at each other.

I rolled my eyes.

Seeing that everyone was seated, I turned to them all, where Laxus stood behind me with his arms crossed, trying to get the kids to behave. Orga was trying to get his attention so Laxus hung the eight-year-old upside down until he stopped struggling.

Natsu muttered something that sounded like, 'at least he doesn't just do it to me'.

I turned to them. "I went searching for keys-"

"Like Lucy's?" Natsu asked eagerly.

"No," I said. "The keys I found _are_ Lucy's. I gave them to her. I wasn't expecting to find treasure there as well. So, few things first. Don't go crazy, and _you five_ ," I stared at the slayers, "go one at a time. Then you can browse _for others_ , not yourself. Is that understood?"

Everyone nodded eagerly, with both Natsu and Sting practically vibrating with excitement. Gajeel was trying to hide it, but even he was a bit excited to see what I had (though I think he was underestimating the size of it). Wendy and Rogue looked interested, but they weren't going crazy like the others.

"When I bring out the treasure, will you guys be able to restrain yourself?" I asked.

There was no answer.

"Right, Freed we need a barrier," I said.

He got up and began writing an enchantment across the room.

"Woah, this is so cool!" Sting said, poking it. "Rogue, Yukino, come check it out!"

Neither of them moved, so he grabbed both of their hands and dragged them forward, making them poke at the barrier.

Freed ignored them, going across the room and essentially cutting it in half. He spun to me and everyone else. "Only those with permission from Ella-sama may pass."

I nodded. "Did you put me in?"

He began to blush.

I rolled my eyes. "Eleanor Rigby has permission to pass."

And then I slipped through the barrier.

"Wendy goes first," I said.

The boys began protesting, and I glared at them. "I _said_ Wendy goes first."

I turned to Wendy. "Before I requip it, know that most girls, and even some boys, like choosing something that matches their eyes or hair or something, and then take to wearing it. You are allowed _one_ piece of jewelry for that, and then you may choose _five_ things. Understood."

"Why do they get more?" Gray complained.

"Dragon Slayer secret," I said. "If they choose to explain, they will. For now, know that there's a reason. When they're all done, everyone else can pick a few more things, okay?"

Everyone nodded. "Don't worry, Erik," I said, closing my eyes. "You'll get more stuff as well."

Spreading my arms, I requipped the piles of treasure onto the floor, within the barrier.

All five dragon slayer's had wide eyes as they stared at the pile of gems, gold, and other precious metal. Gajeel looked like he was about to start drooling.

"I give Wendy Marvell permission to pass," I said, and held out my hand. "Come on, Wendy!"

The five year old took my hand and I pulled her inside. "We'll start searching for your jewelry. Any idea what you'd want to wear?"

"Do you remember when _we_ were five?" Cana asked Levy and Juvia. "And the pile was a lot smaller!"

"It was still pretty big, Cana-san," Juvia said. "At least bigger than us."

"This," Wendy said, coming forward. "Ella-nee. I found it."

On a chain was a bird, that was covered in white metallic feathers.

"It reminds me of Grandeeney," Wendy said quietly.

I kneeled down and hugged her. "You'll see her again, sweetheart."

She hugged me back, and continued browsing.

After she picked five things, she rejoined the others.

"Rogue is next," I said before anything could be said.

" _Why_?" the other three boys whined. Most kids were snickering.

I stared them down. "Because _he's_ behaving, and you're not. Rogue Cheney has my permission to pass."

Rogue got up and passed the barrier, inspecting the jewels before grabbing six things and turning to me. "Can this be made into a bracelet?" he asked, holding up one of them, which was actually three interconnected gems connected, into a triangle-like shape. (I'd tried to separate them when I was taking account of everything I had found, and it still didn't come apart).

I nodded. "We'll see about making it in a bit, alright?"

He nodded and returned to the others, and my gaze landed on Gajeel, Natsu and Sting.

Of the three of them, the next one was…

"Gajeel Redfox has my permission to pass," I said.

"Gihihihi," Gajeel said, getting up and passing the barrier. He managed to restrain himself as he started digging through it. "You've got some pretty good things, here, Lynx. How many can I have?"

"Five," I said. "Plus one more if you'd like to wear it as jewelry everyday."

He nodded, searching for a few more things and grabbing five things. "Is that jewelry offer still open?" he asked.

I nodded.

"Then I'll get it later."

"Speaking of which, Gajeel, how good are you at piercing ears?" I asked.

"I'm a bit offended," he muttered. "What kinda Iron Dragon would I be if I couldn't even pierce my ears?"

Erik was laughing in the background, which caused everyone to swing their heads between the dragon slayers. Erik only laughed like that if someone was lying out of embarrassment, something the new dragon slayers hadn't learned yet.

Gajeel turned a bit red. "Alright, so maybe I messed up a bit as a kid, but Metalicana taught me! Now I'm brilliant at it. I'm the one who did _my_ ears."

I nodded. "Some the kids around here want to know if you'll do their ears."

Gajeel looked around and seemed to be thinking of something.

Erik suddenly stopped laughing.

"Okay," Gajeel finally said, getting his stuff and moving back with the other kids.

I looked at them. "Sting, you're next."

He whooped for joy and jumped up, rushing for the barrier before I could give him permission. After slamming into it headfirst, he reeled back, clutching at his head.

"H…Here, Sting-san," Wendy said quietly, healing his head.

He smiled at her and turned to run into the barrier again before I quickly shouted, "Sting Eucliffe has permission."

It worked this time and he passed through the barrier harmlessly, starting to realize what he had done again at my words.

I sighed and looked down at him. "Same rule. Five things, plus one possible piece of jewelry."

He nodded eagerly and started searching through piles, generally disappearing and shouting nonsense.

Eventually, he came back out and looked at Gajeel. "Can you pierce my ear?" he asked, holding up a crystal I recognized – the one he always wore from his left ear.

Gajeel nodded and Sting joined them.

I turned to face Natsu. "Alright, Natsu. You heard me, you know the rules."

"Five things plus something to wear?" he repeated.

I nodded. "Natsu Dragneel has permission to cross the barrier."

He ran forward and crashed into it.

I sighed and muttered under my breath. " _Etherious_ Natsu Dragneel has permission to cross the barrier."

Zeref was currently hiding, holed up with Mavis and searching for a way to turn Kinana back into a human.

He had chickened out on the actual confrontation with him, but I've seen Zeref crying in the shadows more than a few times as he looked at Natsu.

I still don't know what I'm going to do about that; whether I'll just _pretend_ that Natsu has an uncanny resemblance to his brother in the past, or just come clean and explain that Natsu is technically a demon.

Zeref might end up giving it away anyway, crybaby.

Natsu passed the barrier and ran around, disappearing into the piles of gold and gems.

"Should we worry?" Laxus asked.

"Probably," I said, shrugging.

Natsu burst back out a while later, holding five things; one of which was a gigantic block of gold.

I stared at him, my voice going flat. _"What."_

I had gone through all of that stuff. There was no…gold… _bars_ …

I glared at him and touched the metal. Yep.

Still warm.

"NATSU DRAGNEEL!" I yelled at him. "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU MELTED GOLD COINS TOGETHER SO YOU COULD KEEP MORE OF THEM!"

He sunk down, looking away guiltily. "You never said we _couldn't_."

"Can't believe Flamebrain actually had a good idea," Gajeel muttered behind me.

Natsu got mad at that but deflated as he saw my angry face.

I put my hand to my forehead. "Split it in half."

"What?" he asked, confused.

"The bar," I said. "Cut it in half."

He shrugged and melted it halfway through the metal, into two separate pieces.

I threw some Neptune on them, cooling them off.

"You can keep _one_ of them," I said. Natsu stared at me in shock.

"What?" Gajeel demanded. "With that much gold, it's got to be a dozen or so coins in that bar! And that's underestimating it!"

"I know," I said. "But I am slightly impressed that he actually thought of that. So he gets half."

Natsu threw himself at me, hugging me tight, and it wasn't until I wrapped my arms around him and messed with his hair (moving my arms inward) that I noticed what had been changing lately.

I was starting to get boobs.

 _Ohhhhhhhh._

Everything makes a lot more sense now.

And I've been a late bloomer in this life a lot.

And that also explains why Laxus is growling in the background and Erik is laughing his head off again.

I pushed him out of the hug. "That still leaves one more, plus something you want to wear."

He beamed and darted over to Lucy, picking her up and snuggling into her. "My fifth is Lucy!"

Lucy blushed a deep red, before pushing him off and stammering, "B-Baka!"

I sighed. "Natsu, you can't pick Lucy."

"Why not?" he wined, clinging back to Lucy.

"Because Lucy isn't a thing," I growled back as Lucy gave up and just accepted the cuddly dragon.

He pouted.

I took down the barrier. "Alright guys, you know the drill."

The dragon slayers stayed back while the rest of the kids (as I put it) browsed. Macbeth came up to me with a string of red beads, and asked if he could trade them for the necklace he got. I gave them to him and he (along with Erigor's help) started weaving it into his braided hair, and I suddenly remembered that Macbeth had red beads in his hair the last time around.

Erik got all of his things, and Natsu, after pouting, went back to searching and got three more things; the fifth thing for his hoard, and two gold bracelets - much like the leather bracelet I'd seen him wear last time around, except thinner and made of gold.

He hurried over to Lucy and gifted her one, which she took, blushing. He put the other one on his own wrist, and I worried about how to fireproof it.

I'm sure Lucy will think of a solution. Maybe.

Whatever.

There was a knock on the door.

Droy, who was closest, opened it. "Yeah?" he asked.

"Are you children done?" Makarov asked. "I believe I have some news regarding Cubellios."

"We're done," Erik said before anyone could say anything else, and the adults re-entered the room.

I rolled my eyes, requipping everything away. "Next time, Erik, ask with everyone else."

"I can read minds, I did check," Erik said.

Well he actually can't read mine, so...

Oh well. I guess I'll just do it later.

I sighed. "But yeah, we can be done for now."

He nodded at me and turned directly to Makarov. "What did you find out?"

"I was right on waiting. Apparently, this girl was connected to something via body-link magic before she was a snake. If we were to change her back immediately, the body link would break, but she would likely lose her memories."

Body…Link…

Body Link Magic had shown up multiple times in the series – Laxus's Thunder Palace, Brain keeping Zero locked up via the Seis…and one more…

"No way…" I whispered.

Erik and Laxus looked at me. "What is it, Elle?" Erik asked.

I ignored him and walked up to Cubellios. "Kinana?"

Cubellios lifted her head and looked at me.

"I need you to answer something. You remember your life before you were turned into a snake, right?"

The snake nodded.

"Did you know a girl named Katja? No, wait, she wouldn't be old enough…"

Slowly, her eyes never leaving mine, she nodded.

I blinked. Kinana had always looked young for her age. Maybe it was a genetic thing? After all, she was twenty in X784, and twenty seven in X791.

So maybe Katja looked younger than she was, too.

"Are you linked to the Clock?"

The snake nodded, and seemed to become defensive, rearing back from me.

"Elle?" Erik asked. "What's going on?"

"I need to sit down," I mumbled, feeling faint, and Laxus caught me and lowered me to the ground right as my knees began to collapse.

I guess I never thought of it, but of course there would be subplots in any series that are sometimes not used; but the author still knows they're there, and hints at them, maybe even counting it as real in their mind, even though they've never out-rightly said it. I _know_ that.

And it would be kinda poetic, in an angsty way. It would also explain why she ended up nearly possessed, and carved symbols into the guild hall wall.

The Infinity Clock.

Kinana was a _Celestial Mage_. One of Will Neville's.

Poetic in the way that she's connected to the very people Cobra had to take out.

"You're one of Neville's?" I asked. "Aren't you?"

The snake started, and reared back, as if to attack.

"Cubellios, no!" Erik yelled, standing in between me and her. "What are you doing?"

"I understand, Kinana," I said from behind Erik, moving around him and kneeling on the ground, hoping to hell and back that she didn't bite me (I'd survive, considering I have a poison and then a sky dragon slayer, but it'd hurt like hell). "But please remember that I know a lot of things that I shouldn't. We'll break the Body Link on you, and then you can decide what to do, alright? But we need to break the body link in order for you to become human."

Slowly, she curled up and nodded.

"One more thing," I said slowly. "There's a large chance that your main magic will disappear once the Body Link is broken. You'll still have some other magic, I think, but your main magic will be gone."

If anything, she sank deeper into herself and looked very depressed.

"Are you going to tell us what you mean, Elle?" Makarov asked.

I shook my head. "No. That's up to Kinana. But we need to break the Body Link. Now…does anyone here know how to do that?"

* * *

 **Boom! And there's the big reveal.**

 **The whole 'planning out plot lines but not using them' is something even I do. For instance, I was thinking of making Erik already having lost his eye when Elle saves the Seis. That's why, when Brain came across Laxus and Elle after Ultear's escape, he was taking note of the placement of Laxus's lacrima.**

 **I ended up scraping that, obviously. But I still set it up.**

 **Some of you knew about Kinana already, because I can get really chatty about spoilers when I respond to reviews and start a PMing conversation.**

 **Also, my plans for the next chapter ARE A _MESS_ , so it might be awhile longer before I post that one. For those DoD fans, though, that next chapter should be up in a few days.**


	99. Kinana

**You guys remember that one time Lucy broke her promise?**

 **I'm not joking either, like 'nah, neither do I'. She actually broke a promise once. And it's in the anime, not just the manga.**

 **First person to answer correctly in the comments (but only before the next chapter, which should be Wednesday...) wins...I dunno, a oneshot, maybe? I'll write most ships. Especially Lucy related.**

 **Except GrayLu. I just can't.**

 **No idea when it'd be up though. Lets say...by the time I'm done with this year of school?**

 **So pretty much by Elle's birthday then. :D**

 **Yes, in college you get out of school in early May and start in early September. It _is_ awesome.**

 **Also; I changed my disclaimer in the first chapter. You should uh...go back and read that.**

 **Yeah.**

 **Also beware the upcoming awkward teenager phase.**

* * *

 **Chapter Ninety Nine - Kinana**

The answer, apparently, was yes.

More than a few members knew how to break a body link without harm, but the honor of doing it went to Zeref. For some reason, he cautioned anyone else from doing it, saying that it wasn't a normal body link because of the Stellar Magic involved, and that he should be the one to do it.

But before that, an explanation was needed.

Because Natsu walked up to Zeref and asked, "Why are you crying?" (Because the man seemed to be eternally crying, especially with Natsu in his vicinity.)

After that statement, Zeref burst into tears and clung to Natsu.

"What the hell is going on?" Laxus asked.

Mavis fluttered down from the ceiling (you know, it seems like she's up there a lot). "Natsu bears an uncanny resemblance to Zeref's brother."

Zeref continued crying.

So, if Mavis wanted to keep it a secret (even from the guild) it was probably a good idea.

I was suddenly thankful that only three people in the room knew E.N.D.'s identity, and that Erik couldn't read any of our minds.

Natsu didn't seem to know what to do, so Lucy slipped up to him and whispered to hug Zeref back.

Natsu, still unsure, did so, which caused Zeref to cry some more.

"Okay, that's enough," Mavis said, grabbing Zeref's hand and pulling him away. "You can spend time with Natsu when you can stop from bursting into tears every time you see him."

Zeref, still crying, was pulled away, still streaming tears.

I was reminded of Natsu's reaction when he saw Lisanna in Edolas, with Edo!Lucy playing the part of Mavis.

And Zeref was gone.

* * *

While we waited for Zeref to recover, most people spoke about how Natsu looks nothing like Zeref, and how can he have a resemblance with his brother if he looks nothing like him?

I reminded them that Zeref admitted his brother doesn't look like him.

Erik was just getting more and more impatient, because he wanted Cubellios to change into Kinana, and he couldn't read any of our minds, so he didn't like that there was a delay.

I glared at him until he calmed down a bit. "It won't be long, you baka."

Ten or so minutes after leaving, Zeref had composed himself (slightly; I mean, he was _still_ crying) and was now ready to break the Body Link, doing his best to ignore Natsu (who was busy staring at him).

Some incomprehensible words and flashy magic circles later, Kinana was laying on the floor…naked.

Luckily, I had a blanket ready, and threw it over her before anyone could see.

I crawled under to speak to her. "Hey, Kinana."

"Elle?" she asked. Holy _shit_ , she was _tiny_. Like...tinier than _Levy_ , tiny.

I nodded.

"You look different…" she said.

"You're used to seeing heat rather than people," I commented. "You'll adjust. I've got some clothes for you, alright?"

I knew that Kinana was the same age as Freed, Evergreen and Nab, but she didn't look thirteen, or even twelve-going-on-thirteen.

I was originally going to give her some of my clothes from when I first arrived (and was nine) because I guessed that her growth would be a little stunted; she was twenty before the timeskip the previous time, and twenty seven after, and didn't like those ages at either of those times. Looking at her now, I could see that my guess about her being smaller was right, but still way off.

"Kagura, do you have an extra pair of clothes?" I asked.

"Yes," she called, and a little bit later, some clothes were pushed under the blanket.

"Here," I said, passing them to Kinana. Kagura was around four years younger than Kinana, but wow, Kinana was _small_.

"Master, is there a chance that something messed with her growth?" I called. "Even in the other timeline, she seemed really small for her age."

"It is possible," Zeref commented, sounding slightly less emotional than before. "She did spend several years as a snake."

"Thanks, _Master_ ," I said sarcastically.

"Mavis is the only one allowed to call me that," he said plainly.

"Zeref!" I shouted. I could hear all of the kids who have had 'The Talk' choking.

"What?" he asked innocently, and I don't know if I should be happy he wasn't crying or upset by what he said.

At least he wasn't crying anymore.

"I don't get it," Natsu said.

"You don't _need_ to get it," Gray told him, without any enmity for once.

"Geez, we didn't need to know that," Laxus said, sighing.

"Yeah, no one wants to know what the founder of Fairy Tail and the Darkest Wizard in the world do together in their free time," Erik muttered. "Keep your kinky stuff in the bedroom…"

"Bad Erik!" I yelled. "What did I say about tact?"

"Ow!" he said, and I smiled, knowing Laxus had shocked him for me. "What was that for, Laxus?"

"Until you learn some more tact, I'm to shock you every time you say stuff you shouldn't."

"Did Elle put you up to this?" Erik asked.

"Yes," Laxus said. "And I'm not going against Elle. Sorry."

"No, you're not," Erik grumbled.

Natsu and Sting were laughing, and I could tell from the way lightning sizzled that Laxus had thrown a bolt near enough to them to make them shut up.

"You done?" I asked Kinana, ignoring them.

She fidgeted, clasping onto the edge of the dress she had. Even now, it was big on her.

I might have been kinda small for my age, but I was growing, and Porlyusica said that my Magical Overload is gone. But Kinana was around _thirteen_ , and she looked around eight.

"What…what if Erik doesn't like me like this?" she whispered.

"He'll love you, baka," I said. "You'll catch up to him soon enough."

She blushed at that, and I threw the blanket off.

Erik's eyes widened as he took in Kinana's appearance. "Cubellios?"

"My real name is Kinana," she said softly. "Hi, Erik."

To the surprise of just about everyone, Erik sprang forward, wrapping his arms around her and cuddling her in her arms, and nuzzling her neck and listening to her heartbeat. "I can hear you!"

 _"What."_ Laxus asked flatly.

"Mine!" Erik said happily. " _Mine!_ "

"It's his dragon," Zeref said, coming up beside the two of us, still pretending Natsu didn't exist. "Though it's actually much less of a reaction than I thought. If you meet your mate between the ages of fifteen and seventeen, you kinda go mate-crazy. And even after that…." Zeref turned to look at Laxus. "You're telling me your dragon doesn't want to do the same with Elle?"

Laxus and I both blushed, and I turned to Mavis. "Go take your boyfriend somewhere else! He obviously has something else on the brain, so indulge him until he can join us again, will you?"

Mavis turned redder than a tomato, and grabbed Zeref and started flying out of the room. Zeref got a stupid look on his face.

"How old _is_ Zeref?" Laxus asked. "Physically?"

"Fifteen."

" _Really?_ "

I nodded. "He was cursed on the ninth-year anniversary of his brother's death. He told me he tried that night, thinking it would be good luck. It was the ninth year – 3 times 3. Three times the good luck. Arithmatically, he kinda had a point; three _is_ a magical number. But that was the night that he was cursed."

"Geez. He doesn't really look fifteen."

"When he's mature, he kinda gives an appearance of eighteen at most, but when he's crying he seems like he's twelve. It just depends on his emotions. When his Black Magic goes all crazy, he looks older, like early twenties."

Erik got off of Kinana and punched Laxus in the face. "Dude! Come on!"

"Yeah. I deserved that," Laxus said, holding his jaw.

My face turned into a tomato as I guessed Laxus's thoughts. "Just because they do it doesn't mean we will baka! They're Forever 21!"

"I don't entirely get what you mean, but I know," Laxus said quietly, dragging me off to the corner and glaring at everyone until they looked away. "Not until you're ready."

"Laxus, I don't even think _you're_ ready," I said flatly.

Mavis and Zeref were (physically) younger than us, and were already running off to have ghost sex.

But the thing was, I wasn't even ready in my last life.

Laxus was probably going to have to wait awhile.

I had mentioned that Laxus was my first kiss, but he'd also be my first _everything_.

And yeah, I died a virgin. Get over it.

 _I_ did.

* * *

Kinana spent the rest of June and most of August learning how to walk, and trying to find her secondary magic.

Okay.

So let me explain something I had started to understand the longer I've been here.

Everyone can learn _any_ type of magic; true (as long as it's available to them (so not Lost Magic if there's no knowledge on it)).

But people tend to have a primary type of magic.

For instance, me. My main magic is Planetary Magic.

Then there is a secondary magic; a type of back-up. One you're still pretty skilled in, but doesn't use as often.

People only have one primary, can have up to three secondary, and several tertiary. If you practice any magic but it's not that strong, it doesn't fall under one of your types. Some people can have tertiary and no secondary. And some people are just confused about their magic, and think their tertiary is their primary, or something like that.

 _My_ secondary is Requip and Teleportation, and my tertiary is Location Magic.

Now, for instance, take Makarov:

His primary magic is Titan Magic. His secondary are the Fairy Spells, and most of his elemental magic falls under tertiary.

Also, take Cana and Ultear:

They also have three types of magic, one of which falls under each category. Ultear's primary is Arc of Time, her secondary is her Ice-Make, and tertiary is Requip. Cana's tertiary is the same, but her primary is Card Magic, and her secondary will Fairy Glitter when she gets it.

Lucy's first magic is probably Celestial Spirit Magic, while Urano Metria falls under her second (and I'll get to that later). Requip is probably her third.

Kagura's Gravity Magic was her primary, Requip was her tertiary, and Erigor (and even Wendy) were actually teaching her the basics in Air Magic, which would probably be her second, based on the way she was advancing (she didn't use her Air Magic on anyone other than herself to enhance her abilities.)

Out of everyone, the only one I know with Requip as a Primary Magic is Erza.

Evergreen's Stone Eyes was her primary, her Fairy Magic was her secondary, and again, requip is her tertiary.

Now, this is because Born Magic is generally a primary magic (which is why her Stone Eyes beats her Fairy Magic), but when it comes to Born Magic _and_ Lost Magic, they usually tend to compete for first place. A _lot._

Right now, Makarov says that Erik's primary is still his Soul Listening, and that, with time, his Dragon Slayer Magic should overtake it.

Now, back to the problem at hand:

Kinana's primary magic was Celestial Spirit Magic, but she lost that when she was separated from the Clock. Now, we're looking for her secondary magic.

Because of this, _most_ of the kids were _also_ looking for different types of magic they could be skilled in. Levy, Nab, Millianna, and Simon specifically were looking into their secondary magic. The surprise for searching though was Sorano, who (while gaining strength through her Moon Magic) wanted to see if there was something else available to her.

I just hope she stays far, _far_ away from Angel Magic. That shit was terrifying, and it cost her her own lifespan to summon those things.

I also made most kids turn to Requip, Teleportation or Transformation Magic as a tertiary magic, because I though they're very helpful. Not much progress on that front, but that's only for now...

Alright, so back to Urano Metria.

Apparently (according to Phoenix and Corvus) Urano Metria and the rest of the Celestial Battle spells (all Celestial Spells, actually) all fall under the umbrella of Stellar Magic, but not a specific type. They're called 'Celestial' Spell, because of all Stellar Magics, Celestial Spirit Magic is the only one that is a Holder Magic. Since all of the spells are Caster Magic, it means that Celestial Spirit Mages have something to pull out if 1) they're strong enough and 2) they lost their keys, so _they're_ the ones who usually learn it.

This does _technically_ mean I could learn it.

But I don't want to.

Honestly, the 'Celestial' (Corvus said to just call them Stellar) Battle Spells terrify me.

Urano Metria is badass as fuck, but I DO NOT WANT TO LEARN THAT.

So that's a no.

Maybe one day.

But not now.

No fucking way.

Back to the guild.

There were a lot of bonding moments as the guild grew closer. Sorano, for one, found Kinana absolutely adorable, and seemed to be hogging her more than Erik (much like Erza and Kagura compared to Simon). Expectedly, both males were upset.

Gajeel ended up piercing everyone's ears, and I ended up talking with him one evening, out on the training fields.

"Gajeel?" I asked him.

"Yeah, Lynx?" he asked.

I sat down next to him. "Is there a reason you pierced people's ears for free? The Gajeel of the last timeline probably wouldn't have done that."

He looked away, before saying, "I'm not good at making friends."

Ah. That made sense.

"I know," I said, putting a hand on his back reassuringly, and he looked up. "But that doesn't mean you don't have them. And more than that, you have our guild; a family."

I smiled at him. "No one ever said that you had to be friends with your family. You just have to trust them utterly and completely."

I looked away. "What if I told you that in the last timeline, despite the way Natsu and Gray hated each other, they trusted each other in battle and nearly died for one another?"

"No way," Gajeel said, looking away again and out on the sea behind the guild.

"Yes way," I said, and he made a face.

Yeah, I don't think I'm going to say that again.

"Gajeel," I said. "You don't need to get along with your nakama. But you have to be there for them. And I think that's something you've already figured out."

He blushed a bit before getting up and running off.

I smiled at his fading form.

Last time around, he was thrust straight into Phantom Lord; a place where survival is first, and friends don't exist. So he didn't bother to try, and it closed him off.

This time around, he's putting the effort in.

* * *

In the beginning of August, we were all invited to Hisui's fourth birthday.

Natsu had his bracelets on him, and was _also_ leashed. Lucy held that leash.

Which is good, because when he saw the King's Crown, he _wanted_ it, and Lucy had to 'Lucy Kick' him across the room to make him fully understand that he's not allowed to take it.

Even Mystogan came along (because of Wendy), no longer hiding in the shadows when he wasn't vanishing for a week or two. He posed as Jellal's twin brother, and made us all call him Seigrain when he walked around without his disguise on.

I trusted Rogue and Yukino to help keep Sting in line, and as long as Gajeel stayed away from anyone he'd antagonize (and sulk in the corner as he likes to) he'd be fine.

Speaking of Gajeel…

I turned. Yep. Still sulking in a corner.

And glaring daggers at Natsu, Gray, Lyon, Jellal, Erik, Simon and Max.

It wasn't until I realized the connection that I rolled my eyes and approached him.

He might like to sulk, and it might even be better to keep things calmer, but this wasn't good for him.

"Ask her to dance, baka," I said.

He started, turning over to look at me. "Lynx?"

I stared down at him. "You're jealous, I can tell. All of the boys you're glaring at are dancing with the girl they like…except you. Why don't you go ask the girl _you like_ to dance?"

He looked away.

Sometimes I forget that Gajeel is only a year younger than me – three years older than Natsu, Lucy and Levy.

Maybe people from the 300s were just small, or oddly sized, because Zeref didn't look his age…ever…and the slayers were still a bit smaller than they should be. Gajeel was _still_ shorter than me (though still taller than Levy) and Natsu was still a few inches shorter than Lucy.

Wendy was even smaller than Levy was at the same age.

"I don't know how to dance," he muttered.

I rolled my eyes. "Who cares? If someone makes fun of you, just punch them in the face."

He didn't look as upset, but he was still nervous.

I sighed. "Gajeel, if you don't start dancing with her, I think Jet or Droy is going to ask…"

I was right, too, Jet was holding his hand out and was obviously getting ready to ask Levy.

Gajeel, before I could blink, was by their side, and in between them. I couldn't have gotten there faster if I teleported. Which I could've.

He gulped (I could see it from here) and held out his hand. "Dance with me," he said, not really meeting her eyes.

It was certainly a lot more open than in his last life, where he and Levy had practically danced around each other for ages until after Tartaros when they joined the Council together. I remember them dancing together but both pretended they didn't like it.

This time, Levy looked away, her face turning a darker shade, but she accepted the hand and dragged Gajeel onto the dance floor.

Despite that fact that Gajeel had no idea what he was doing, he was smiling, and Levy, though still red as a cherry, was beaming.

Erigor and Macbeth, who didn't dance with each other, stood off to the side, talking quietly.

I made a mental note to have a _talk_ with Erigor.

All in all, it was a really fun night. We all played with Hisui, who was happy to see Yukino again, and was glad to meet Sting and Rogue and Wendy. As always, Hisui was extremely chatty, and I could see Sting going stir-crazy just waiting there. Sting liked to talk about himself. Hisui liked to talk about everything (and Sting didn't really come up on the list of topics).

Sting knew better than to interrupt a princess.

Poor guy.

I was holding Koku, who would be a year old in around four months, while I had a conversation with Toma about the talk he gave the Magic Council last year, about Fantasia. "Is there a time limit?" I asked him, rocking the girl back and forth.

He smirked at me. "Was there supposed to be?"

I smiled at him. "I think you'll like this year's parade."

I looked back down at Koku. "You're going to have a _really_ crazy family, Koku. I'm afraid to say that your daddy's caught the _Fairy Tail_ bug. But it's going to make life very interesting, and fun."

I tickled her, and the baby giggled, and then I was waylaid by Hisui who wanted attention from her godmother.

And wow, that really warmed my heart. I was Hisui's _godmother._ I passed Koku back to Mari and swooped Hisui into the air, running through the dance hall while she laughed.

We actually managed to make it through the party without breaking anything.

At the end of the day, everyone had fun, though Lucy _was_ a bit sad.

Jude Heartfilia did not show up.

But no one expected him to, anyway.

* * *

"Erigor," I said to him.

He stopped on his floating path (hovering on his scythe) and turned to me. "Yeah, Elle?"

"Let's have a talk," I said.

He followed me outside, still not walking.

"You're going to get fat if you keep flying everywhere," I told him.

He hopped off of his death stick and turned to me. "What is it?"

I crossed my arms. "What are your intentions towards Macbeth?"

Erigor's mouth dropped open. " _What_?"

"What are your intentions towards my brother?" I hissed.

He shifted uncomfortably.

"Well?" I asked.

"...Waiting?" he asked.

"For what?" I asked him.

"A better answer?" he muttered.

I rolled my eyes. "I know you like him, and he likes you. I want to know where you want to go with this relationship."

"...Far?" Erigor suggested.

I stared at him. "How are you so _awkward?_ No, you know what? You guys probably bond on your trouble with socializing."

He started blushing. "We...may have discussed that...but that's not why we like each other."

"So you admit it!" I declared. Though I wasn't quite sure whether I was talking about them admitting they liked each other or that they were socially awkward.

Erigor sighed, and nodded. "I'm willing to wait. There's four years between us. While he'll hit the legal requirement in December, I won't do anything until he's okay with it."

I smiled and hugged him. "Good. You have my blessing."

"Really?" he asked, shocked.

I nodded. "Yep. But break his heart-"

"You'll break my bones?" Erigor suggested.

"No," I said firmly. "I'll turn your dick into a pretzel."

* * *

 **I'mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!**

 **:D**


	100. Another Day

**So some of you guessed about Lucy breaking Aquarius's key/Lucy promising to protect her spirits, which I don't really count as breaking a promise.**

 **When she said that, she meant it in an abusive way; she'd always protect them. She fights with them all the time, and as a result, they do get hurt; she can't always protect them from harm. Hell, in the Tartaros Arc, Aries and Taurus got absorbed by Franmalth, Virgo and Loke got blasted with Jackal, and Torafuzer sliced through Aquarius's shoulder.**

 **No, she broke a promise when Future Lucy died in her arms, and she swore she'd never close the Gate. Future Lucy tells her she didn't close the Gate, and Lucy says ( _verbatim;_ in the Dub, anyway): "I promise I won't either, no matter what."**

 **No one got it right. :(**

 **But as a consolation prize y'all can PM me some prompts (ONE SHOTS ONLY I ALREADY HAVE ENOUGH IDEAS FOR MULTICHAPTER FT STORIES) and I'll see if anything happens, alright? **

**This is probably going to backfire. Oh well.**

 **Also, several people mentioned something special happening for this chapter: which is why the beginning was added. Enjoy. :D Happy One Hundredth Chapter!**

* * *

 **Chapter One Hundred - Another Day**

The problem with being a member of Fairy Tail is that there's never really a 'normal'. Yes, there will be a brawl, and fighting, but something different comes everyday.

This particular day, horror struck.

"Alright, WHO THE FUCK GAVE ORGA COFFEE?" Laxus roared.

"What's wrong with giving me coffee?" Orga said, vibrating in place more than Jet normally does. "I like coffee. Not black though, so I added sugar and cream, and it was _really_ good! I missed you so much Nii-chan, and you haven't spent much time with me since you trained the other slayers. Will you play with me? Come on, I want to fight!"

Orga grabbed Laxus's arm and started trying to drag him outside. Laxus, who would be seventeen in three months (a _weird_ thought) and was practically all muscle, didn't move, as Orga started slipping on the ground as he tried to pull him forward.

"Someone is going to die," Laxus hissed.

I sighed. "Go play with him, Laxus. His rush should wear off eventually, just try to speed it up. I'll make sure no one gets any more coffee."

"What?" Natsu shouted. "I WANNA TRY COFFEE! NO FAIR."

"NO WAY!" Laxus roared. "ABSOLUTELY NOT!"

I glared at Natsu. "No. No one is getting any coffee, and Orga isn't getting anymore either."

Orga let go of Laxus and raced over to me, staring me straight in the eyes and pouting. "Nee-chan, why? Don't take away my coffeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

I stared him down. "I _will_ take away your coffee. Go enjoy it while you can, and play with Laxus."

He looked like he was about to cry, but Laxus grabbed him and hauled him over his shoulder, taking him outside.

I turned to the giggling culprits in the corner. "Guys…"

"It was an accident!" Lyon protested. "It wasn't meant for him. He just ended up drinking it."

"Still...I'm surprised to see _you_ involved," I said, crossing my arms and looking at Simon, Nab, and Jet and Droy, who were next to Lyon.

"I had to leave Erza and Jellal alone again," Simon muttered. "Millianna and Kagura are spending time together. Sho and Wally are doing something with Richard and Sawyer, and Evergreen, Freed and Bickslow are busy planning something."

"Pretty sure Levy is with Gajeel, reading or something..." Jet muttered. "And I think Ultear is with Lucy and Brandish and Cana."

"Sorano is watching over the younger ones again," Droy said.

"That takes care of most of the troublemakers," I said. "But that's not all of them."

"Erigor's probably flying around somewhere and I think Warren is still scouting the town," Nab said. "And I saw Erik, Macbeth, Laki and Max hanging out together. And Kinana, of course. Erik's still latched onto her."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Were the boys glaring at him?"

"Yes," the kids said in unison.

"Great," I muttered. Max had trouble adjusting with certain people because he was still a bit wary about me, and some people (Laxus, Erik, Macbeth, etc) are not happy about that.

I mentally rolled the list of people through my mind. I looked at Lyon. "Where's your brother? And Juvia?"

Lyon shuffled nervously as he tried to come up with some sort of excuse.

"Where are they?" I asked, as I glared at him, my arms crossed.

"Gray froze over the pool so he and Juvia could go ice-skating!" Lyon finally burst.

I sighed.

How did _I_ end up in charge of all of these kids? It's not like I'm the oldest. I'm like...not even in the top five oldest!

"I guess those two will be okay..." I muttered, turning back to the group. "Who was the coffee even meant for?" I asked. "Why did you guys even _have_ itin the first place?"

"Well, if we don't give caffeine to Cana she ends up drinking alcohol instead…"

The group froze up, and I realized this was meant to be a secret.

Lyon was looking very upset at his slippery mouth.

I sighed. " _Already_? Jeez, she's only eleven. I thought she'd be able to wait a few more years."

They relaxed a bit.

"Where is she?" I asked.

They tensed again. "I think she's trying to get more coffee from Enno…" Nab suggested.

I nodded, and walked out into the main guild hall, hearing the other boys split into different directions behind me; probably so they could escape Cana's vengeful wrath. "Cana, can we have a talk?"

She hopped down from the bar and followed me into a spare room, where I sat down. It would be better for me to stare her down (more intimidating) but I had been standing for a while now and I wanted to sit.

I sighed. "Cana, have you been drinking alcohol?"

She sank into herself.

"Listen, you don't need to explain," I said. "You did it a lot in the other timeline, so I'm not surprised. But I hear you're drinking coffee now?"

She nodded.

"Look, coffee is much better to drink than alcohol. Alcohol is a depressant, and coffee is a stimulant…" At her confused look, I elaborated. "Alcohol makes you extremely sad, and coffee makes you happier and wakes you up; it gives you more energy."

"So…"

"So, if you need to drink _something_ ," I said exasperatedly. "You should drink _coffee."_

She nodded.

"Does your dad know?"

Her eyes widened and she shook her head.

I sighed. "Alright, I want you to tell him later when you go home, alright? He should know, and it's better for it to come from you than accidentally finding out from someone else."

"DAMMIT ELLE, CAN YOU GIVE ME A LITTLE HELP?" Laxus hollered from somewhere.

I slumped over. "Coming. Stupid tsundere."

"I HEARD THAT!"

I got up and walked through the building, coming outside and sitting down in the grass.

Laxus was standing in place, and Orga was continually attacking him, bouncing all over around him and batting at him, though he didn't seem to be doing anything.

At the speed he was moving, I would've said that he was a speed mage, rather than a lightning mage. But he didn't seem to be using any magic at all, instead just trying to physically attack Laxus.

"Who do I need to kill?" Laxus asked, not even moving from where he stood. It reminded me of how Natsu would attack Gildarts, and Gildarts would bat him away like a fly.

"You're not killing anyone, Laxus," I said, rolling my eyes. "It was an accident."

"Fight back, Nii-chan!" Orga demanded, jumping around Laxus.

Laxus raised one hand and planted it on Orga's back. The kid flew directly into the ground, and was extremely still for a bit.

"Laxus!" I scolded.

He shrugged. "He asked for it."

Orga sprung up again and continued trying to attack Laxus.

I couldn't hold in my giggles. Yep, just like Natsu and Gildarts.

And speaking of Natsu...

"FIGHT ME, LAXUS!" Joining Orga in his quest, the two of them attacked Laxus, trying to get one over on him.

It didn't work.

Orga's coffee high eventually crashed, and he ended up passing out in midair and falling on Laxus, who did not appreciate it.

Natsu just laughed over that, which led to him getting shocked.

We went inside the guild hall, Laxus holding Orga's unconscious body.

The kids burst into giggles at the sight, and I rolled my eyes.

Just another day in the guild.

* * *

"Why is this so difficult?" someone hissed.

Erigor stopped where he was walking (when he was busy moping, he actually preferred _physical_ exercise, rather than flying, and he was still upset over what he'd seen) and turned to see what it was.

The week had started out _so well_ (Elle had even given him her _blessing!_ (which he also hadn't thought would be a problem in the first place)) and then it all went downhill today when he saw the way Macbeth was smiling at the Wood-Make Mage.

Macbeth didn't smile at _anyone_ like that, except _him,_ sometimes Erik (which was allowed, because they were best friends), and sometimes Elle (which, again, was allowed because they were like siblings).

He shook it out of his thoughts and returned to the present, looking into the room.

Enno and Macao were sitting at a table, looking at a large sheet of paper and going over things.

Macao glared down at the paper. "Can't I just...set it on fire?"

"No," Enno said, before putting her head in her hands and curling into Macao's side. "You know this will work out, I'm just worried about the speed of it…"

"You still want to get married in August?" Erigor spoke up, leaning against the wall.

Both of their troubled faces told the answer plainly as they looked up at him.

"I might be able to help," Erigor offered, walking forward. "What seems to be the biggest issue?"

The two exchanged glances and sighed, before Macao kicked out the chair so Erigor could sit down.

"The bridesmaid list," Enno said, putting her head in her hands.

Erigor's mouth opened in understanding. "Oh. You wanted... _Layla...as_ your maid of honor…"

Both of them looked away, sadly.

Enno sighed. "And now I don't know who to pick…"

Erigor paused, thinking. "Alright, I think I know what to do…"

* * *

He eventually sat back.

The couple looked at him with wide eyes. "You're pretty good at this, Erigor," Macao said.

Erigor blushed, trying to hide a smile. "Well, I and Macbeth like...planning..." And his face darkened.

"What's wrong?" Enno asked.

"He's jealous," came a voice from the doorway.

They all turned to see Erik there, surprisingly, without Kinana attached.

Erik glared at Erigor. "Alright, I'm only going to say this once, so _listen_."

Erigor nodded, a bit wary.

"And I'm only doing this because Macbeth is my best friend," the fifteen-year-old snapped. "And because your thoughts are so damned loud I can hear them halfway across the guild, and I want that depressed shit out of my head."

Erigor nodded, even more wary.

Erik glared at Erigor before sighing. "I get that you're jealous, okay? It's not like I haven't been before, so…"

"But Kinana only got turned back," Erigor pointed out. "And she doesn't really spend time with a lot of people…"

Erik glared at him, blushing all the while. "That...doesn't matter, okay? And don't fucking interrupt me."

Erigor bit his lip, obviously getting that Erik had a secret crush… "Sorry."

"Anyway," Erik looked away, before referring to what Erigor had seen. "Look, Macbeth has been hanging out with Laki because they get along really well. They have…similar interests, one being...er...interesting...methods..."

Erigor nodded.

Erik continued. "But Macbeth isn't…straight. Or gay."

"What?" Erigor asked, confused.

"Look, he's not heterosexual, or homosexual, or bisexual or whatever. He's..." Erik took a deep breath. Macbeth was _so_ going to owe him for this. "He's _Erigor_ -sexual, and even that's not entirely certain. He doesn't really have _real_ type of attraction to people. You are the first and only one he's ever seen as a possible romantic partner. But he's not really sexually attracted to anyone. Except possibly you, but even then I don't know. But actually, the asexuality is another thing he has in common with Laki."

"…oh." To be fair, Erigor didn't know what he was exactly supposed to say, but he could feel his cheeks burning.

Erik cleared his throat. "Anyway, uh…bye."

And then he spun out of there.

Erigor wasn't long to follow (though he ran off in a different direction), leaving the couple to look at the two retreating teens in shock.

* * *

The door burst open. "Elle, I need your help!"

I looked up at Erik from where he stood in the doorway to the training room. "Okay?" I asked him wearily.

"But Erik!" Sorano, who I was meditating with, protested.

"Later, Sora!" He grabbed my arm and started pulling me out. "Come on!"

I was dragged up and into the storage room, and I thought that it was _really_ lucky that Laxus wasn't there, and was instead picking up Wendy from Porlyusica's, (which she visited once a week to learn more about healing methods).

"What's the problem?" I asked, sitting on a box.

"I'm not gonna be the local therapist!" Erik said desperately. "Please, _please_ , fix things."

"Erik, I can't fix things if I don't know the problem," I said irritably.

"Then I'll tell you the problems but please fix this!"

I sighed. "Okay. Is there anything _specific_ you'd like me to fix right now?"

Erik hesitated. "…No?"

I stared at him blankly. "Then next time, _wait_."

And as that happened, Laxus ripped open the door, looking very _very_ unhappy _(murderous_ would probably be a better description, but that wasn't going to happen, so I wasn't going to use it).

"Calm down, baka," I said, giving him a hug. "Geez. You stupid tsundere."

Laxus grunted. "Are you just going to keep insulting me?"

"Yes."

* * *

"Gajeel?"

The soft voice made him look up. "Yeah, Shrimp?"

Levy McGarden's face scrunched up, and she hit him with a book she had in her hand. "You're not much bigger than me, baka!"

Ow. Gajeel rubbed his head. He had heard from Natsu that Lucy's kicks were ridiculously strong. The Fire Dragon had even claimed that she had 'legs made of awesoranium'. When Gajeel, who knows just about every metal on the planet, asked what the fuck awesoranium was, Natsu said that most metals end in '-anium', so he added it to 'awesome'.

Awesoranium still wasn't an element, but if Lucy's powerful legs were made of it, so was Levy's arms; probably from carrying so many damn books.

"Yeah, but I'm growing," Gajeel said, standing up, resisting the urge to rub his bruised head so she doesn't know how powerful her book smacks were. He stood up straight and stared down at her. While he was about half a foot taller than her, he still wasn't _much_ taller. "What it it? We finished our reading lesson for today."

Levy started blushing. "I'm gonna be one of the flower girls...and Virgo made everyone dresses. But...everyone else has their ears pierced, so..."

She turned to look at him. "Will you please do mine, too?"

He smiled at her. "Gihi, sure. You pick out the ones you want to wear, or do you just want plain metal studs?"

She smiled at him. "Elle pulled out the treasure for us, because I also think she wanted to give some to Enno and Macao as a gift. She said we can pick a few things for the wedding."

She took his hand and started pulling him to the private room they were preparing, and he tried to hide the blush on his face.

* * *

On August 18th, Macao and Enno were married.

Maggie was the Maid of Honor, and Mari and Ur (who both hid their pregnancies with magic) were her bridesmaids. There was never any question on who the Best Man would be.

Enno also took away his pipe for the ceremony.

His face when she told him he couldn't have it was priceless.

I was the flower girl, despite the fact that fourteen seemed a bit too old to me.

I also had a legion of other flower girls, and Juvia, Cana, and Levy trailed behind me. I know that Enno probably wanted Lucy to join the flowergirls, but she'd also feel bad about not including Brandish and Evergreen because of the timing of when they joined the guild, and at that point, it's just too many girls. (It was already probably too many girls.)

Nab was the ringbearer for his aunt (and soon to be uncle), and Macao luckily remembered to give them to him (because Macao can be more forgetful than me, sometimes).

It was a beautiful ceremony that lasted _way_ too long, and I told myself that my wedding to Laxus would be half an hour, max.

And then my face wouldn't stop being red for the rest of the night.

Wakaba's Best Man speech pretty much consisted of, "Can't believe Enno married _this_ idiot, of all people!"

It wasn't well thought out, but it _was_ Wakaba.

Most of the couples paired up. Lucy was dancing with Natsu (who was once again on a leash; this wasn't the Royal Palace, but it was still a wedding reception). Gray and Juvia, Gajeel and Levy, Lyon and Cana, Simon and Ultear, etc etc.

I danced with all of the kids, even the boys (especially the adorable tiny ones), and this usually ended up with Laxus yanking me away before I could finish.

I didn't mind, and the dragon slayers all thought it was pretty funny, except for Erik, who was grumbling along with Macbeth, Jellal, and Freed, who all wanted longer turns dancing.

But Erik was cheered up by Kinana wanting to dance, finally having confidence in her new legs. Erigor finally approached Macbeth and asked him to dance (like actually, literally _dance_ , not just stand in the corner, talking). No one said an insulting word towards them, and I couldn't help smiling. Erza, her face a deep red, commanded Jellal to dance with her, which turned him just as red.

Which only left Freed. Poor Freed. The only one who wanted a longer dance with me and didn't get a person he liked to dance with him.

Evergreen finally danced with him, though I could tell she was only doing it so they wouldn't feel left out.

I can't wait for the Strauss siblings to be here.

I mean, I probably won't have to do _anything_ about Evergreen and Elfman.

Maybe just lock them in a closet, once.

As for Mira and Freed, they might be a good match. Both darkness magic, both refined (kinda; Mira was after Lisanna died, anyway), and both _hardcore_ shippers (I mean, Freed had to _sit down_ when he saw me and Laxus dancing together all dressed up).

Of course, it takes more than a few things in common to make a relationship, but they could try.

Orga started a dance circle, and Laxus was okay with that because I was holding his hand on one side and Lucy's on the other side.

By the end of the night, we were all exhausted, even little Yukino, despite the fact that she, Wendy and Rogue barely did anything other than a few dance circles, again.

It wasn't that hard to get Sting to join the dance circle (it was actually a hell of a lot harder to get Gajeel, but again, Levy worked her magic…literally. She bribed him with IRON when he got embarrassed about dancing with all of the kids).

I'm still laughing over the fact.

In the end, we waved them off on their honeymoon, and then they didn't return for a few weeks. And not long after Enno and Macao had a new beginning, two others did as well.

* * *

 **Headcanon: Erigor and Macbeth are the best wedding planners in the guild, mostly because Mira and Meredy haven't arrived. Macbeth is great at arrangements. Erigor is good at music and planning. The only thing they're not allowed to do is pick the clothes. (Seriously, have you seen what they fucking wear?)**

 **No males in the Fairy Tail universe should be allowed to dress themselves. They must be kept far, far away, from all closets.**

 ** _ALL_ OF THEM.**

 **Next chapter: We have the birth of the SilvUr Twins! :D**


	101. Color of Change

**So...my depression decided I wasn't sad enough and that it needed to fix that. In addition to that, I got some really mean messages about Ripples and most of my writing as a whole, so I've been really down again and self-conscious about my writing and Elle in particular.**

 **It was even worse, but I want to thank YourFriendBob, Bnemesis, Jeptwin, and bookworm041 on Fanfiction. Also special thanks to DemonicNymphomaniac who doesn't allow PMs. :( Anyway, thank you for your comments guys, and DemonicNymphomaniac (as well as any other new people who have joined us) welcome to the bandwagon!**

 **Thanks for cheering me up a bit, guys.**

 **I'll probably still take a short break (like a week or two) from writing after the Fantasia chapter, which will be at least Chapter 103 - there should be a chapter in between this one and the Fantasia one. There will also be another chapter of DoD up before the break.**

 **So...yeah. I know I'm needy as hell and seem kinda pathetic with the amount of reassurance I need (it's because I kinda am) but I'd really appreciate some uplifting reviews, or at least something from people that says you'll stick to this, or that you'll stay here even if you don't normally comment or something. Or that you like Elle and my writing. Sorry.**

 **Enjoy the chapter.**

 **Also, thank you to anyone who offered up name suggestions (I might use some of them in the future)! (And as you can see, some of you guys guessed correctly with ones I had already planned).**

* * *

 **Chapter One Hundred and One - Color of Change**

I still haven't really come to terms with being a midwife, because while Maggie (despite her yelling) and Ame actually had pretty basic pregnancies, this _was not one_.

Ur was calm and composed most of the time.

She was _not_ when she was giving birth.

But I mean…she gets an excuse. She's _giving birth._

 _BUT STILL_.

Silver (who was still a coward when it came to his significant other, but not as much as Rex was and so actually ended up in the room), ended up with a broken hand.

Porlyusica helped (which is good, because, again, I'm still…uh…a beginner? At being a midwife, and this was _twins_ ).

And Ur spent most of her time screaming at Silver.

I blocked out most of the memory, but I do remember a few particularly funny phrases, such as:

"SILVER, I'D RATHER HAVE A CACTUS SHOVED UP MY VAGINA BEFORE YOUR DICK ENDS UP THERE AGAIN."

And:

"SILVER, YOU'RE GOING TO BE LUCKY IF I DON'T CUT OFF YOUR DICK AND REPLACE YOUR EYES WITH YOUR BALLS!"

And so on.

It was a good thing Freed put silencing runes on the room.

And finally, they were born.

"What are you going to name them?" I asked, looking at the two babies who had passed Porlyusica's health check (she was now taking notes in a journal on both my powers and the birth of twins). Silver held the first-born – a boy. Ur held a girl, the younger of the two by around a few minutes.

Ur looked at Silver.

"Color scheme?" he asked. "It is one my family's traditions."

Ur smiled. "I already told you I don't have a problem with that. Do you have any suggestions?"

"How about Eggplant?" he asked jokingly.

Ur glared at him. "You should be grateful I'm holding a baby right now."

Silver gulped.

"Actually," Ur continued, her voice darkening. "Elle, take the baby."

She handed the girl over to me, and Silver started cowering. "You know, Ur, I'm holding one of the babies, too!" he pointed out desperately.

"Elle has two hands," Ur said, grabbing the boy and passing him to me.

I would have hit my hand to my forehead if I didn't have my hands full.

And then I turned away as Ur started kicking Silver's ass, shouting things like, "How _DARE_ you suggest we name our CHILD that?"

"How about...uh...Caramel?" Silver suggested.

"SHE'S NOT A CAFÉ DRINK!" Ur shouted.

A giggle brought my eyes down to the girl baby, who was smiling as she watched her mother kick her father's ass.

She tugged on her twin's ear, and the boy woke up, grumpily glaring.

She pointed at their parents and made incomprehensible baby noises, and her older brother cheered up as they watched their parents.

Once again, the babies in this world do not follow the normal process of childhood and psychology.

But I can't really change it, and it sure makes handling them a lot easier, so who fucking cares anyway at this point?

Me.

I care. Why couldn't Mashima _research_ this shit before he started writing? Who _wouldn't_ research this shit. _Especially_ when he threw in Asuka?

But no matter, back to the babies in my arms.

They were twins, and even their facial structure and eye shape was exactly the same. While they didn't have much hair on their heads, and their hair shared the same dark shade – which is to be expected considering Ur and Silver's hair colors.

One was a boy and one was a girl; yes, their genders separated them, and the girl would (probably) end up growing out her hair like Ultear (either long in the future or the Wendy-like pigtails she had now). The babies still looked almost exactly alike.

But there was one difference.

Their eyes focused on mine as I looked down at them, before their attention was directed back to their parents and Porlyusica, who was now hitting Silver with a broom for 'stressing out' Ur right after delivering birth.

The boy's eyes were a dark gray color with white and black flecks across them, and the girl's was a pretty deep purple hue.

"What about Violet?" I suggested quietly.

The fighting stopped as the three of them looked at me.

"What?" Ur asked.

"For the girl," I said, looking up. "What about the name, 'Violet'? It's the color of her eyes."

Ur moved closer, Silver following closely behind.

Porlyusica rolled her eyes, put down her broom and returned to her notebook, muttering angrily under her breath.

Ur took the girl from me and hovered over her, and Silver joined her by the side.

They smiled down at their daughter together, and I tried to stop myself from cooing at the adorableness of it all.

"Violet," Ur said softly. "I like it."

"It's perfect," Silver breathed, in awe of his little girl, who grabbed his finger when he went to touch her face (either to play with her cheeks or boop her nose, things I've seen him do with Maxie when Maggie was gone and Rex let the boys plays with her).

Ur looked back up at the me and the baby boy I was holding, who seemed to understand that his sister would return, but was getting a bit more anxious as time passed. "Any suggestions for her brother, Elle?"

I looked down at the baby. "If we follow the pattern of eyes…" I stared at the baby, and the boy, who seemed to realize this was important, stopped fussing for his sister and focused on me.

"We already have a Gray and a Silver," I pointed out. "But the flecks in his eyes…how about Ash?"

Silver took the baby from me and moved him over to his sister. The babies smiled at each other and the girl squealed, continuing her happy babbling. The boy was quiet, but seemed content now that he was back with his family.

"Ash and Violet," Porlyusica said from her corner, looking up. "It's fitting. NOW!"

Silver jumped at Porlyusica's shout and the babies giggled.

Porlyusica glared at Silver. "Ur needs bedrest."

"I'm fine, Porlyusica," Ur said.

Porlyusica glared at her, now. "I told you to stop working jobs when you were two months into the pregnancy, and you didn't listen. You have had _twins_! In addition to that, they were born prematurely but seem perfectly healthy."

Her eyes moved to me. "I'm sure it's Elle you have to thank, but I'd like to keep the twins and Ur overnight, just in case. So, GET OUT."

Silver nodded, already knowing that he'd probably pull up a bed next to Ur to keep him company.

Ur, who know held both babies and was back in her bed, smiled up at her husband. "Why don't you announce the good news?"

Silver smiled, but also muttered under his breath, "Ridiculous fucking mood swings."

" _What was that_?" Ur hissed. "Did you say something, Silver?"

"No!" Silver said, darting for the door.

I looked at Ur, trying not to laugh. "How much of the way you're acting is because you're actually mad at him, and how much of it is because it's fun?"

"It's mostly the latter," Ur admitted, giggling and looking back down at her children. "But I was a bit mad at him for a few things earlier."

"Right," I said, realizing that Silver's hand was still broken and I needed to heal that.

 _A 'bit' mad. Okay, sure._

I made a funny face at the babies, who giggled, and then headed for the door. Ur waved behind me, and Silver stood at the top of the balcony, waiting for everyone in the guild to gather.

We were still missing a few people's attention so I requipped an air-horn and said (for the slayers) "Oi, slayers. Cover your ears."

Looking at the crowd, the kids had gotten theirs hands up, as well as Silver, and I set it off.

 _That_ got their attention.

I'm not going to go into detail about how hard it is to make an airhorn in this universe, but it's _totally_ fucking _worth it_.

God, I miss Youtube.

"Ur has finished giving birth!" I shouted.

That kept everyone's attention.

Ur had been in labor for several _hours,_ which led to a bunch of impatient people laying in wait. Which led to a bunch of people drunk.

"She's given birth to two beautiful babies!" Silver took over from here. "The oldest is Ash Milkovich-Fullbuster, an adorable little boy."

I was wondering what they were doing with the last names. I know that none of the other ice wizards' changed, even after the marriage. Ur is still Ur Milkovich, Ultear is still Ultear Milkovich, Silver is still Silver Fullbuster, Gray is still Gray Fullbuster and Lyon is still Lyon Vastia (and I can't help wondering if there's a story about that).

"Younger by four minutes!" Silver continued, his eyes watering a bit. "Is my adorable little girl, Violet Milkovich-Fullbuster."

More hooting, and Silver joined the "Dads Proud of Our Adorable Little Girls" club, which (as it had Dad's in the title) only included fathers.

I rolled my eyes and smiled.

I really should've known.

Men were just suckers for their adorable baby daughters.

* * *

"What's Fantasia?" Natsu asked, cocking his head as he looked up at me.

I smiled down at him and the other slayers, ruffling his hair. "It's a parade we have every year to show off our magic. And we're going to star in it!"

I turned to look at all of the kids, who were all seated. Kinana was next to Erik, who was still _extremely_ clingy.

"Now, since the adults are all having kids or pregnant, they're going to be busy and want to watch the parade instead this year. Which means…it's all up to us."

The kids nodded a little knowingly.

"So," I continued. "The question is…what song are we going to choose?"

Gajeel perked up. "Song?"

 _What the fuck?_ Does he even know what a guitar _is_ at this point?

"Gajeel, you can audition later," I chastised.

"Audition?" he asked.

I nodded, and looked back at everyone else. "Do we want to make it a party? Like a loud alternative rock song?"

"Like Unstoppable?" Juvia asked.

I nodded. "Or, we can go with a softer song. I have some options for both."

"Are we gonna stick it to the dark guilds again?" Macbeth asked lazily from where he sat beside Erigor.

"How about _just_ the council?" Jellal offered.

There was snickering.

I rolled my eyes.

"I wanna hear the rock song!" Sting said excitedly.

I rolled my eyes and passed it to him. "Here you go. Same rules as last year, guys; auditions."

Sting pulled back from the card, after pushing it to his forehead to remember it. "THIS SONG IS AWESOME!"

"Let me see that," Gajeel muttered, grabbing it out of Sting's hand and looking at the card. "Uhhhhhh…"

Levy moved forward and hit the play button so everyone could hear it.

"Nice," Laxus smirked at me.

"I've got another one, but I already think I know who would sing it, and I need to know if they'd be able to reach those notes."

I took out another card and played it, turning towards the person I wanted. "Can you do it?"

They smiled. "I'm willing to try!"

And that was the start of that.

* * *

 **So...yeah. Support would be nice. And I'd love to see your guesses again, on both the songs and who is going to sing them (though to tell you the truth, the more important one is still kinda up for grabs. The first one they do is the one where Elle already picked someone, so...who do you think it is?).**

 **Anyway...thanks guys.**


	102. Walks and Waltzes

**First, thank you, all! When I asked you for reviews, I expected a _few_ supportive ones. I got what I wanted and _more_! Your encouraging and kind words actually made me cry, more than once, and I spent yesterday refining this so you could all have a wonderful present. Thank you so much, guys.**

 **Oh, yeah I forgot. First person I saw to spell it SilvUr was Jeptwin. And something I still need to add to DoD, but the person who gave me the idea for the relationship between our special blunettes was Chefbabe in Celestial Mage Wanted (a great Nalu story I already recommended back in chapter...I dunno, twenty three? Go read it).**

 **Oh, and there will be one more chapter before Fantasia.**

* * *

 **Chapter One Hundred and Two - Walks and Waltzes**

It also wasn't long before it was the end of it.

"What do you _mean_ , we can't do the song?" I asked him.

"I _mean_ , you can't do the song!" Makarov replied. "It's like we're _asking_ the Council to arrest us. Absolutely not!"

"It is not!" I yelled back. "It's just _one_ verse, we can take it out! We took one out of Unstoppable!"

But he still asked me to change it, so I picked another by the same artist so we wouldn't have to change too much; we still had the same singer for that. Our plans didn't _really_ change, other than Loke adjusting some of the choreography.

I also went through auditions for our ending song, which would be bigger than our opening number, and we finally settled on our singers for that as well.

Every once in awhile, though, some things would come up.

* * *

First, I had to have a conversation with several people.

"Why are we here, Onee-sama?" Juvia asked.

I crossed my arms and looked around the room at Laxus, Erik, Macbeth, Freed, Juvia, and even _Jellal._

"You guys need to stop being mean to Max," I said, without a beat.

The reactions were immediate.

Juvia whined, Jellal denied but also looked away in shame, Freed protested, and Laxus, Erik and Macbeth all scoffed.

I glared at them. "I'm serious. Stop being mean."

"He's mean to you, Ella-sama!" Freed vehemently spoke. "He doesn't deserve to be treated with respect."

I pinned Freed with a glare. "Max is your _nakama_. So he doesn't like me – so what? Not everyone will. Not everyone in the guild likes me. While some of you are… _specifically attached_ …to me, not everyone in the guild is as close. You all _know_ that. I'm not that close to half of the kids we rescued from the tower, or even Sawyer and Richard, or Nab. I don't see you getting on their backs. Hell, I'm pretty sure Master doesn't like me, either."

Laxus snorted, but said nothing.

"Onee-sama!" Juvia whined. "We can't just be _nice_ to him."

I gave her a stern look. "Lucy is nice to him. Yukino gets along with him alright. Jet is friends with him. All of them are attached to me just as much, if not _more_ than some of you. Let it go."

I gave each of them a look, before finally settling on Jellal. "And Jellal, I'm disappointed in you. _You're_ supposed to be _mature."_

He flinched.

I sighed. "Guys, I'm not telling you you have to _like_ him, alright? But he's your nakama, which means he's your family. You don't need to _like_ your family, but he still _is,_ which means you're stuck with him and that you protect him. Alright?"

Some of them exchanged glances.

I rolled my eyes. "Guys, I like Max, I really do. I got off to a bad start with him. From the start with most of you guys, it was emergency situations, so it was _okay_ and _helpful_ for me to be there for you guys, lending you aid. But that's not what happened with Max. He sat down with his friend to meditate, and when he woke up, there was a strange girl there he didn't know."

More looks were exchanged, and I could see a few of them starting to relax.

"What about Laki?" Macbeth asked. "She was there, too, right?"

I crossed my arms at him. "You should know better than to ask about her, Macbeth. You know how she works. Laki is _Laki_. _I_ couldn't try to figure out how she works. Most people aren't okay with other people randomly breaking into their bedrooms for no reason."

"I was okay with it," Freed grumbled.

I rolled my eyes. "I had a reason to be there, Freed. You had just gotten into an argument with your father about running away. It was a good opportunity."

He huffed and crossed his arms. "You _still_ haven't explained how you did that, Ella-sama."

I ignored him.

"What about Erigor?" Macbeth pressed. "He was fine with you breaking into his bedroom."

"Erigor was fifteen. Max was six. Or seven. The point is, he was young, he was confused, and I don't blame him for having a bit of a bad impression of me."

Laxus snorted. "Plus, it's not like Elle makes the most reasonable decisions."

"See?" I said, before… "Hey!"

* * *

Erik was tired.

Tired, but happy, especially with Kinana sitting next to him.

The guild was a loud place, and to be honest, it kinda hurt his ears. The other dragon slayers were still adjusting to the noise too, even months after joining (except for Natsu, because he tends to make half of it; he's already resistant).

There were always a million thoughts swarming through his head, but he didn't... _not..._ like it. On the contrary, he loved to just sit there and listen to everyone's souls. It was entertaining, and he loved his friends.

In addition to that, though, hearing all of his friends' problems helped clear them up (there were already four or five that he had to pass to Elle).

For instance; the Erigor situation, because Macbeth was now very close with Laki after bonding over whatever reason Erik _didn't_ want to know (he still knew, though).

He heard Erigor's jealous thoughts and went to do something about it.

He should have just sent that straight to Elle. Immediately.

He didn't want to think too deeply into half of these things, to be honest.

On the other hand, Erik found _Gajeel's_ inner monologue very entertaining; particularly when he would drift off when Levy was trying to teach him. which would lead to getting his ass kicked.

Usually, Gajeel tried to come up with animal names for people.

He'd already nicknamed Natsu 'Salamander', Erik 'Cobra', Lucy 'Bunny Girl' (not Bunny, Bunny _Girl_ ) and Levy 'Shrimp'.

Erik still feels like he lost a horrible opportunity. With the amount of books Levy surrounded herself with, he should've called her 'Worm'.

He was still searching for more names, most of which related to powers or personalities, though he also ends up giving up on a few of them, which is why he calls Juvia 'Water Woman' – which lead to an argument between Lucy and Gajeel about why Juvia got the 'woman' title when she was only a few months older than her.

Gajeel, as he does with nearly all things, ended up ignoring this for the most part and continued searching for names he could match up with people.

Gajeel was also getting pretty close to Macbeth (which made Erigor upset, once again), and called him 'Beth' a few minutes ago, to which Macbeth responded, "Only Erigor gets to call me that."

Gajeel was thrown off by that, but shrugged and continued. "Fine. Panda. Panda Bear."

Macbeth didn't care; he was already half asleep, and Erigor kept nudging him, trying to keep him awake.

Erik sighed and continued surveying the room.

Max (who was currently titled 'Sand Boy' in Gajeel's head) still bugged him.

Erik did not like Max.

 _Lots_ of people didn't like Max.

Not because Max was a bad person.

But because _Max_ didn't like _Elle_.

So to at least five people, Max was considered persona non grata.

But at least they were nicer to him now.

To be fair, if he hadn't been kidnapped by Brain and met Elle that way, he might've reacted the same to her.

So he _kinda_ got where he was coming from.

But Max was _her_ nakama now too, so they should all be friends.

Erik froze as a thought drifted from his mind, and perked up like a dog, looking for the one who said it.

"What is it?" Kinana asked.

Erik held up a hand, listening to the thoughts.

 _So what does this mean_? The small sweet voice was asking herself. _Could we be related?_

He tracked the voice over to Levy, who was thinking deeply – so deeply, in fact, that Erik didn't want to venture in.

It's one thing to read someone's surface thoughts, but when he's going straight in, he's completely overwhelmed.

 _No, it's impossible. But I was still able to cast the spell…I don't understand._

Erik stared at Levy before standing up and shouting, "Bickslow!"

The kid drifted forward, riding on his souls. "Yeah? Is something wrong?"

Erik bit his lip. "I know you don't like to give away a lot of details in someone's soul. You only really check whether or not they're soulmates, and even then, you only give away information if they ask. But I need you to check something."

Bickslow nodded.

"I know that you can check ties between people, even through family," Erik hesitated. "Is Levy related to anyone?"

Bickslow nodded. "Yeah, and...I think I remember who, but I'll check the bond."

His eyes glowed as he activated his figure eyes, and he turned to Levy, before turning back and shutting off his eyes. "Yes, and I believe she's figuring it out. Her side is solidifying."

"Solidifying?" Erik asked.

Bickslow nodded. "If they don't know they're related, it's a type of transparent bond. Since it's getting darker on Levy's side, it means she's figuring it out."

Kinana frowned. "So Levy is related to someone in the guild and we didn't know? Why didn't you tell anyone, Bickslow?"

Bickslow sighed. "The more and more members we get, the harder it is to comprehend everyone's strings. Nowadays, the bonds between everyone are so strong I can almost see it all the time, even without my Figure Eyes activated. So I tend to keep it off because it starts to hurt. I remember noticing the string when they first met, but I forgot about it because I didn't know what the transparency meant."

Kinana nodded. "I'm gonna grab Levy. Grab her family and meet us in the closet. It's big enough for us all."

She ran to Levy, and Bickslow smirked at Erik, who was staring at her happily. "You're acting like a lost puppy, man. Get it together."

Erik blushed and looked away, taking note of Bickslow's thoughts. "Shut up, let's just grab her cousin."

* * *

"Where are you taking me, Kinana?" Levy asked the girl (who, while two years older than her, actually looked much smaller).

"It's important, Levy!" Kinana said. "And I'm not the best to explain. Come on!"

Levy looked back at her book sadly, before sighing and letting Kinana drag her off to…a storage closet?

"We really need to get a room for private conversations," Kinana muttered, right as the door opened.

Erik and Bickslow dragged Jellal in, who looked just as confused, if not _more so_ , than Levy.

She started to feel a shiver of fear. If _Erza_ found her alone in a closet with _Jellal_ …

Levy tightened her grip on Kinana's sleeve.

"What are we doing here?" Jellal asked.

Bickslow let go of him and closed the door, activating the runes on it while Erik grabbed Kinana and sat with her over on a crate.

"Guys?" Levy asked impatiently. She was _really_ starting to miss that book.

And there was still _Erza_.

Bickslow took a deep breath and looked back and forth between Levy and Jellal.

"You guys are related," he said.

All of the breath left Levy's lungs. She'd thought of the possibility, since she had accidentally cast (what she'd thought was) Meteor, but still…

"What?" Jellal asked, confused.

"You two are related," Bickslow said. "I can tell from your strings. You probably aren't half-siblings, since Levy had both of her parents with her when she was growing up…"

Levy nodded.

"…so I'd guess first or second cousins?" Bickslow continued. "It's close enough to register on your souls."

"We're…cousins?" Jellal asked.

"I…I get my blue hair through my mom," Levy said shyly. Yeah, this was Jellal (her friend), but he was _also her cousin_.

She still had family _alive._

Jellal relaxed and smiled at her. "So do I. Cousins, huh? Why don't we get to know each other for real?"

Levy smiled and nodded to the older boy and they left the closet, going for a walk and talking about their families.

"Well, now what?" Bickslow asked as the last three of them exited the closet, too.

"Where's the Shrimp going, Cobra?" Gajeel asked. "And why's Firefly with her?"

"It turns out that Jellal is her cousin," Erik said to the boy. "And she's going to get to know him a bit more."

Gajeel looked at their retreating backs. "So they'll be busy, huh…"

He stood there thinking, before swirling around and marching over to Natsu and Lucy, grabbing Lucy, and running off. "Let's go, Bunny Girl!"

"Gajeel, what the hell?" she shrieked.

"GIVE ME LUCE BACK, METALHEAD!" Natsu shouted, chasing after them.

"Should we care?" Kinana asked, looking after the three worriedly.

Erik and Bickslow exchanged looks. "Nah."

* * *

"Gajeel, put me down!" Lucy screamed.

"No, I need your help," he said as he continued running throughout the guild.

"The put me down and _talk to me about it_!" Lucy shouted.

"I have to get you away from Salamander!" Gajeel shot back.

Lucy leaned in really close to Gajeel's ear. "What do you think Levy will think if you're kidnapping young maidens that _aren't…her?_ "

Gajeel stopped at that, blushing furiously, and Natsu crashed into his back, topping the two slayers on the ground and throwing Lucy in the air.

She landed on the two of them and Natsu groaned. "Lu-cy? Why are you so heav-y?"

Gajeel scrambled away from the other slayer in horror, hoping to be spared from Lucy's wrath.

No such luck.

"Lucy KICK!" Lucy kicked Natsu, tossing him into Gajeel's stomach and throwing the two of them halfway across the room.

The two of them sat there, groaning.

"Now…" Lucy said, striding up to them and crossing her arms. "What do you need help with, Gajeel?"

"Who cares?" Natsu said, popping up and hugging Lucy as he glared at the other slayer. "Stay away from Luce, Metalhead."

Lucy rolled her eyes and pushed him away. "Gajeel?"

Gajeel eyed Natsu warily, but there was no getting rid of him.

God, the other slayer was probably going to hold this over his head for _years_.

But after the embarrassing attempt he made during the wedding and the Princess's birthday party, he had to ask; for Levy.

"I need your help learning how to dance, Bunny Girl."

Natsu burst out laughing. "D-Dance?" He was laughing so hard that fire was flaming out of his mouth.

Gajeel ignored him and turned to Lucy. "Please?"

"Why?" she asked.

He started blushing. "N...No reason..."

Lucy gave him a long, hard look as Gajeel fidgeted.

He hadn't had a mother, or even any woman in his life, before he was adopted by Metalicana. And while the dragon had warned him that females were _dangerous_ , the girls in this guild went above and beyond his expectations.

They were _terrifying._

Elle, Lucy, Cana, Sorano, Ultear, Evergreen, Brandish, _Erza_ , - hell, even Levy (when it came to her books) and Juvia (when it came to her 'Onee-sama').

And Kagura was getting frighteningly more like her role model (that damn red-headed monster) every day.

Even the ones that weren't actively scary, like Millianna, Wendy and Yukino, were terrifying in their level of sway over others. All they had to do was _look_ at someone and ask-

Lucy sighed and took his hand, pulling him toward the training room, which was luckily empty. "Fine. I'll teach you."

He felt a wave of relief rush through him, and he sighed happily.

"What? But we're supposed to spend time together, Luce!" Natsu said unhappily, and looking slightly like a kicked puppy.

Lucy gave the boy a stern look. "I spend a lot of time with you Natsu. You know that. Now I'm going to spend a little time with Gajeel. That's all. Get over it."

The boy slumped down, sad.

"But," Lucy continued. "If you leave us alone, I promise I'll play with you later, alright?"

The boy brightened. "Alright!"

Gajeel sighed and continued towards the training room, which was shut behind them.

"Now," Lucy said, smiling at him.

He felt a shiver of unease run through him, thinking that she looked suspiciously like a shark just then.

What had he gotten himself into?

* * *

 **Once again, thank you to Chefbabe for writing an amazing ass story! Check out her awesome story (once again, called _Celestial Mage Wanted_ ), which also made me cry.**

 **...I tend to cry a lot.**


	103. Family

**Chapter One Hundred and Three - Family**

Kinana appeared in front of me out of nowhere. "Elle, we have a problem!"

I tried to hide the jump I made and sighed at her. "What is it?"

"Erza's jealous!"

I froze, my veins turning to ice. " _Shit_."

"It's not as bad as you think," she told me as she led the way. "She's not really mad, more really sad. Heartbroken."

"What happened?" I asked.

"Well, it's a bit of a long story," Kinana said breathlessly, having trouble keeping up to me; she was still adjusting to her legs. "It turns out Jellal and Levy are related-"

" _What_?" I asked in shock, stopping.

She ignored me and continued talking. "-and they wanted to get to know each other so they're spending time together. Erza saw them together and got jealous. And then she ran off before I could say anything."

I pinched my forehead and sighed. Fuck.

"You know where she is now?" I asked Kinana.

She nodded.

"Then lead the way," I said, gesturing ahead of me.

* * *

Erik was bored.

Kinana had run off (probably to find Elle) after Erza had seen Jellal and Levy together, and there was nothing really interesting happening in the guild hall; or at least, nothing interesting where he could see.

Or hear.

Freed had put up borders between each room, which helped Erik overall so he wasn't overwhelmed, but made it harder to find something interesting when _he was bored out of his fucking mind_.

Looking around, he noticed that both Lucy and Gajeel were still gone, but Natsu was sitting slumped over at a table.

Erik smirked; maybe there was something interesting going on after all.

* * *

When Erza saw Jellal and Levy together, she ran off, not even talking to them or listening in on their conversation.

She's always been fit, but running now, she could barely breathe; it felt like her heart was tearing itself in half.

Now she was sitting by the river, curled up around her knees and trying to stop her tears.

She was _supposed_ to be strong now. That's why she wore her armor.

But she was still crying.

"Erza!" someone shouted.

She looked up and saw Elle running towards her, Kinana behind her and very out of breath.

Elle would know what to do. Her sister always did.

Elle turned to Kinana and said some things, before Kinana went off in another direction – she should really stop running, her legs muscles still weren't that strong – and Elle approached.

She walked close and was silent, looking down at Erza.

Erza felt a wave of shame. Had she disappointed her sister?

But Elle didn't look disappointed. Instead, she sat down next to Erza, leaning back on her arms as she slightly laid out on the grass and looked at the river.

Silence lay between them, and the two of them both looked at the running water, reflecting the sun above.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Elle asked.

"No," Erza answered.

There was some more silence before Elle nodded. "Then _I_ will."

Erza looked up in shock, before turning to face her sister, who still wasn't looking at her.

"It's okay to be jealous," Elle said, turning and smiling at Erza. "After all, have you _met_ Laxus?" and then under her breath, "Stupid possessive tsundere".

Erza smiled a bit, and tried to hide it.

"So, anyway, you ran off because you were jealous," Elle continued, and Erza blushed as she realized that she hadn't denied it.

It wouldn't matter. Elle knew the future anyway. So she had to know how Erza felt about Jellal.

"Next time, though," Elle said, bringing Erza's attention back to her sister. "I want you do something else; find out what's going on, first. Listen, observe; hell, _confront them_."

"Why?" Erza asked, still sad.

"Because Jellal and Levy just found out they're related, and want to get to know each other."

Erza perked up a bit. "Really?"

Elle nodded.

Erza felt another wave of shame for assuming, but it was soon overcome with happiness. "So…does Jellal…like me?"

Elle laughed. "I think Jellal goes a bit beyond 'like', when it comes to you, Erza."

Erza smiled and leaned into Elle, who changed their positions so they were comfortable, and her arm was over Erza's shoulder, bringing her in for an embrace.

She smiled and snuggled closer.

* * *

" _What_ the _fuck_?"

Lucy and Gajeel looked up from the floor, Gajeel blushing and Lucy brightening as they held each other's arms.

"Shut up, Cobra," Gajeel said, reaching an Erza-level shade of red.

"Make me."

Gajeel lunged for the older slayer (who dodged), and the younger boy ended up flying out the door and hitting the wall opposite in the hallway.

"You _know_ you can't hit me, Gajeel," Erik said, dodging again as Gajeel launched himself off of the ground.

"Shut up and stay still, you damn snake!" Gajeel yelled, trying to attack him again. Even without Erik's help, Gajeel was a bit off-balance and wobbly.

He missed again, because Erik stepped to the side and swiveled on his foot, his other foot coming back up and hitting Gajeel squarely in the chest, throwing him back.

Erik's hands were in his pocket the whole time.

He had practiced that for _weeks_ , and it finally paid off.

Okay, so maybe Elle had a point when she said it would be good for Loke to teach them ballet.

"STOP FIGHTING!" Lucy yelled.

They both froze.

If one wanted to survive in Fairy Tail, it was always a good idea to listen to women if they're angry. While every girl was scary in some way or another (such as Wendy and Yukino's manipulation through cuteness), there are several girls whose _wrath_ you don't want to feel.

Elle. Erza. Lucy.

In some way, these three are the scariest. But there's also Brandish, who will shrink you and play with you like a doll, or Evergreen who will turn you to stone. And while it's not exactly clear what it is that Sorano and Ultear will do, in the end, they'll always get their revenge.

"You're not supposed to fight!" Lucy yelled at them. "You're brothers!"

The two boys froze and exchanged glances. "What the hell are you talking about, Bunny Girl?"

She glared at them, with her hands on her hips. "Elle said that you're brothers!"

Erik sighed. "Elle is wrong. We're not brothers."

"Yes, you are," Lucy said stubbornly. "You're slayers!"

"That doesn't mean we're related!" Gajeel yelled.

"Yes, it does!"

"No, it doesn't!"

"Yeah-huh!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yeah-huh!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yeah-huh!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"ENOUGH!" Erik yelled, holding his hand to this head. "Why are you so insistent that we're brothers?"

"BECAUSE YOU ARE!" Lucy yelled, stomping her foot. "You're both Ellie-nee's brothers, and since I'm her little sister that means you're both my brothers too! So you can't say you're _not_ brothers!"

Silence.

All three stared at each other, and Lucy's eyes started to water.

Fuck.

Erik sighed. "Fine, Lucy. We're brothers."

"We are?!" Gajeel shouted.

Erik punched him.

"I mean, we are!" Gajeel said, rubbing his arm.

"Yay!" Lucy said excitedly, hugging the two of them, before pulling back, her smile turning feral. "Lets go back to dancing."

"I'll just be leaving now," Erik said, but before he could move, Lucy had grabbed the back of his jacket.

"Not so fast!" she said.

Erik stared at her. He hadn't heard her thoughts about moving, or seen or heard her move, either.

"Why?" he asked, trying not to sound scared of a girl five years younger than him.

"I'm gonna teach you how to dance, too!" Lucy said.

 _"Why?"_

"Well, Gajeel is doing it to impress Levy," the boy choked a few feet away, "so you can do it to impress Kinana!"

There was no fighting her.

It was impossible to escape.

Her grin lit up her face again, and Erik put it up there on his list of 'Top 5 Scariest Faces Made by Members in the Guild'; a list he had made strictly for survival, and when to run.

But he couldn't run now.

"Now," she said. "Let's get started. First, we need to fix your form..."

* * *

"Do you remember what I asked you?" I asked the girl curled into my side.

Erza looked at me. "Huh?"

"About the singing?" I asked. "You know I can switch it."

She shook her head. "Thank you for the offer, but I don't need it."

I smiled at her. "If you're sure."

She smiled back. "I'm sure."

"Then why don't you go get your man."

She blushed and ran off.

Mission accomplished.

* * *

"Jellal! Levy!"

The two blunettes raised their heads, paling at the thought of Erza's wrath.

But rather than attack them (either of them) she sat down next to Jellal and brought his head to her chestplate.

Levy sighed. Even though Elle had previously told Erza to requip out of her chestplate if she was going to hug someone, Erza still tended to forget.

Maybe she could use Gajeel to threaten Erza? Like...if Erza doesn't start taking it off when she's hugging, Gajeel is going to start eating her armor?

"Congratulations on your newfound relation!" Erza declared, finally settling down next to Jellal. Levy was only glad that she didn't get her own chestplate to the head. "What are we discussing?"

Levy giggled at the way that Erza just burst in (probably solely because of Jellal's involvement), and Jellal turned a bit red upon understanding his cousin's laughter.

"It's magical theory," Jellal told her. "On why Levy wasn't hit by that beam. Remember, it when we were escaping the Tower of Heaven?"

Erza blinked. "Do you have any ideas?"

They both shook their heads.

"Oh! A mystery!" she shouted, standing up and requipping a sword. She held it to the sky, declaring, "We must solve it!" before running off.

The two cousins sweatdropped.

"Do you think she knows there's nothing we can beat information out of?" Levy asked.

Jellal shrugged. "She'll figure it out eventually."

* * *

On the last day of September, Freed decided to make things difficult.

"Ella-sama!" he declared. "I have decided to make a team."

I blinked, feeling a sense of dread. "A team?"

Currently, most people would still go on at least one mission a week. Since we all liked to train together and spend time during the week with one another, we would usually end up taking a job on Monday through Wednesday, and spend the rest of the week doing whatever. And Fantasia was coming up, and most people in Fantasia would be busy practicing and stuff until the actual parade, so a bunch of us took a lot of jobs for the people who had to pay rent.

We didn't really have 'teams'. Yes, some people would do jobs with certain people more than others (for instance, Lucy, Cana and Brandish tend to go together, as do Laxus and I, with Erik sometimes tagging along if Macbeth is doing a mission with Erigor). Generally, though, people rotate their teams. There are no 'official' teams among the kids.

"A team!" Freed declared, drawing his sword and pointing it in front of him, slightly raised, as if to declare a fight. "I HAVE DECIDED TO BUILD A TEAM FOR MY BIRTHDAY!"

By now, everyone was paying attention to the now thirteen-year-old.

"And this team?" I asked him.

"I've already asked their permission!" Freed announced. "Bickslow, Evergreen and I shall form a team, and protect you, Ella-sama. We shall be known as the League of Chaos!"

My hand went to my forehead.

No. Just no.

"What?" Juvia protested. "I want to be in the League of Chaos to help protect Onee-sama, too!"

"Me too!" Lucy yelled.

"ENOUGH!" I yelled.

Everyone quieted down and I took a deep breath. "One, you can't call yourselves the League of Chaos."

"Why not?" Freed whined.

"Because we already break enough copywrite laws. And I'm pretty sure it's something else," I said, rolling my eyes and thinking about what I think was a video game. Or a movie?...I don't even really care. "But no. You're not going to do it. Instead, the three of you are going to follow around _Laxus_ ," I gestured to Laxus, "and call yourself the Raijinshuu."

"Do I get a say in this?" Laxus asked.

"No," I said.

They three looked back and forth between Laxus and me.

"Why?" Evergreen asked.

"Because I said so," I said. "You're protecting _him_."

"I don't need protection," Laxus said, rolling his eyes.

" _And I do?_ " I hissed.

"N-No!" He stammered.

"That's not a good enough reason, Elle," Evergreen huffed. "You can't just say 'because I said so'. We're not going to listen just because of that."

"I shall do as Ella-sama asks," Freed said, kneeling at Laxus's feet.

"Freed!"

"But what about the League of Chaos?" Juvia asked.

I sighed and messed with her hair. "How about this. Since so many of you want to, ANYONE can be a…" I hesitated, thinking of a word, "MINION of Chaos. Alright? It's separate to your team missions, though."

"Can we have a symbol?" Jet asked. "Like a secret club?"

"No."

Leave it to Freed to overcomplicate things.

And then we worked on making our floats, and Loke had a fun time bossing people around and making us learn things that made our bodies hate him (in addition to our minds).

Oddly enough, Gajeel and Erik didn't hate training with Loke anymore; in fact, they looked relieved when they heard he was in charge of choreography.

We did end up taking a break, once Porlyusica declared Ultear as healthy; her Magical Overload was gone, at the age of twelve. So this lead to a celebration!

Unfortunately, this also lead to a lot of destruction, and we had to rebuild an entire float (luckily, the other ones were easily fixed).

The adults watched us out of the corner of their eyes; Silver and Ur taking care of the twins and Enno and Mari helping out with snacks. The two ice wizards weren't worried about their twins because of how strong the couple was magically (anyone who hurt they kids would _die_ ) and because we put down a new set of runes in the guild that would protect kids; something which brought Maggie and Rex back to the guild a lot more. As we built the floats, Maggie was playing with Maxie, who was nearing the 22nd month mark; she'd be two on the first of December. Maggie and Rex had _also_ kept her away from the guild until she could walk on her own, but now Maxie ran around like a little rocket when she could get away with it.

And no, she does not have Speed Magic. Trust me.

We checked.

Right now, of course, Maggie was keeping a careful eye on her.

And then, it was time for a parade.

* * *

 **Sorry this took so long, guys. I meant to upload this on Friday but Fanfiction was down, and I kinda (might've) slept the weekend away. Oops.**

 **And yes, I will still be taking at least a two week break after the Fantasia chapter is up. Sorry.**

 **Elle actually does need protection...from herself. XD She gets into too much trouble if left alone for too long.**

 **Anyone want to guess on the Stellar light that happened during the Tower of Heaven attack (as a result of Ivan), and why it didn't affect Levy? It'll be a few chapters before you guys get the answer.**

 **But I'm sure some of you will have it figured out... :)**

 **Next chapter: Fantasia!**


	104. Heroes

**Hey guys. After this I'll be taking a break for a few weeks. Sorry.**

 **Also I switched the song (I like this one better). The previous singer was going to be Cana, for those of you who guessed right.**

 **And I would like to remind you, that there is a connection between Slayers and Stellars - and that the Celestial Realm also deals with time.**

 **We've already acknowledged that Elle isn't the only one to remember the last timeline.**

 **And something needs to balance all the good she caused.**

 **Enjoy! :D**

* * *

 **Chapter One Hundred and Four - Heroes**

Loke was angry with me.

With good reason.

I mean, I kinda ran into the training room on October 1st shouting, "GUYS I PICKED A NEW SONG."

"You WHAT?" Loke screamed.

"Our opening number. I picked a different song," I said.

"BUT I WORKED SO HARD."

"Shush," I told him. "You'll like this song more. Plus, we'll just move this song to next year, alright?"

"AHHHHH," he screamed. "FINE!"

And then he stomped off angrily.

The kids didn't really care. Our choreography didn't change much, and everyone really liked the new song.

So we changed it, and our singers (because they didn't really care, anyway).

And that was that.

But yeah, Loke was pretty pissed for a few days.

* * *

"You ready for this?" Laxus asked me.

It was the day of Fantasia. Our clothes were set, our floats were done, and our songs were planned out.

The choreography was perfect, any sort of illusions were recorded on cards ahead of time in case we were unable to do them live, and everything was in place.

I nodded.

"Are you sure?" Laxus asked. "We're throwing down a gauntlet to the dark guilds. And the council."

"I'm sure," I said, curling deeper into him.

Like last time around, we all camped out in the training room. The adults left, however, so the twins or Maxie didn't wake us up.

Most of us curled up on the floor together, and I laid my head on Laxus's chest as he played with my hair.

I smiled.

So much improvement from the previous year.

"You think we'll blow their minds?" Laxus asked, his chest rumbling as he talked.

I tried to stifle my giggles. He sounded like a giant cat.

"I think the Council will be upset no matter what. They always are," I reminded him.

He made a scoffing sound. I ignored it.

"Still," I said quietly. "I'm looking forward to it."

Though, to be honest, I was a bit worried about the dark guilds. Laxus wasn't kidding when he said we were throwing down a gauntlet, and I wouldn't be surprised if Brain and Ivan took it as a personal challenge.

But it wouldn't matter. We'd take them down in the end.

Our alarm went off so we could take a nap; that way, we'd be refreshed when the parade came around.

"Come on, guys, time to settle down!" I shouted.

Anyone who wasn't in the training room came in, and we all laid on the ground, cuddling into one another.

My head was on Laxus's chest, and Lucy came around to my other side, where she sat near Natsu.

I smiled to myself on the sights of Lucy and Natsu, Gajeel and Levy, Jellal and Erza, Gray and Juvia, Kinana and Erik, and Erigor and Macbeth together. Max and Laki were next to each other. And, of course, there was a puddle of tiny tots made up of Wendy, Sting, Rogue and Yukino, while they were monitored by Orga and Kagura. To my surprise, I also saw Simon and Ultear lying next to each, as well as Cana and Lyon and Brandish and Sorano. The last few couples (alright, and Gajeel and Levy) weren't nearly as affectionate with one another, but it was cute.

And Simon and Ultear, Cana and Lyon, and Brandish and Sorano were unexpected developments.

More than a few other kids bunched up, and I noticed that the way Millianna, Wally, Sho, Sawyer and Richard positioned themselves near their friends was a little odd. Sawyer was holding onto Jet's hand and Sho also seemed to hover near Cana (for all of their bickering over magic, the two were still pretty good friends). And of course, the rest of them stayed as close as they could to the other people who were trapped in the Tower or by Brain with them.

I bit my lip but didn't say anything.

I didn't want to be right, after all.

I twisted my head and curled myself up in Laxus's side, and Lucy shifted a bit closer to me.

Lucy. I was worried about her.

Before I started planning Fantasia, (hell, before I even asked the rest of the kids what they wanted to do this year), I asked Lucy if she wanted to do anything in the parade.

Last year, the parade helped me.

But Lucy didn't want any changes. _Maybe next year_ , she had said. _Or during your plans for April_.

But she didn't want to sing this year. More than that, she didn't want to use any magic, either.

And I hadn't seen her use her magic at all for awhile now.

My eyes narrowed as I clutched Laxus's shirt tighter.

I hadn't seen her use it in almost three months, actually.

The only spirits we've come in contact with were Loke (who doesn't count) and Virgo, Corvus and Phoenix.

All of which can come out on their own.

I was worried about her.

But I bugged her (several times), and she told me she didn't want to be a big part of it now. I even handed her a song I think she could do (it was actually more in Erza's range, but it fit Lucy more, circumstance-wise) and she told me hands down that she couldn't sing that now.

Because she'd be lying, and to her, lying is almost as bad as breaking a promise.

So we agreed that she wouldn't sing it now.

And I chose a different possible softer song instead, before presenting choices to everyone else.

Not that it mattered; after all, we ended up with the more alternative rock songs.

And then I kinda switched it again.

I rolled my head over, peeking at Lucy, who was already asleep next to Natsu, who was using her as his personal teddy bear.

I rolled my eyes.

She'd be alright.

We all would.

We're Fairy Tail, after all.

* * *

"Is everyone ready?" I asked as we got on our floats.

They all nodded, and someone shouted, "HELL YEAH!"

It sounded like Gajeel but I couldn't be certain.

"Well, then let's do it then!" I shouted.

There were whoops of joy, and then we got ready to start.

The streets were dark, and silent. Our speakers were hooked up, and I could tell that the cameras were rolling, ready to stream us to the LS.

…I really need to change that name.

And then the music started up.

" _Oceans too shallow,"_ the music started off slowly, and Brandish's unique voice echoed through the air as our illusions of waves formed and Juvia did her thing. " _The stars too weak."_ Lucy lit up, but barely. " _It's deep inside us, you seeeeeee."_ We all glowed at that line.

" _We never follow,"_ Sorano started, joining the other short-haired girl. And that phrase, right there, was the gauntlet to the council. " _Instead we seeeeek…..Nothing can break us…you seeeeeeeee…_ "

The 'nothing can break us' was the gauntlet for Ivan and Brain.

They sang together now: " _This is how we out. Run. The shadows._ " A crowd of monsters shaped by shadows hovered behind us.

 _"This is how we Rest. From. The battles_

 _Be forever one, we know"_ On 'forever one", the Fairy Tail symbol was flung into the air.

" _We know, we know, we know,"_ the rest of us sang, divided into sections and each singing one of them.

" _We'll be standing when it all falls down,_ " the two of the sang, as different colored lights fell from the sky.

" _Steady on a broken ground,_ " I knelt down and, using Earth, made the ground shake.

 _"We know, we know, we know we know_

 _We'll be standing when it all falls down."_ With these lyrics we repeated the same pattern.

Time for the second verse.

" _There ain't no distance…..We can-not reach..."_ as Sorano sang this, we all reached out, and the shadows behind us echoed our movements, reaching out for something that wasn't there.

 _"With height as long as...we breathe..."_ Bubbles made of air floated up around us.

" _We never fol-low…the ones who le-ave,"_ as Brandish sang this, the outstretched shadows vanished.

" _Nothing can break us….you seeeeeeeeee,"_ and again, there's the gauntlet for the dark guilds.

And we returned to the Chorus, with the same effects.

" _This is how we out. Run. The shadows_

 _This is how we rest. From. The battles_

 _Be forever one, we know we know we know we know"_

 _We'll be standing when it all falls down..._

 _Steady on a broken ground..._

 _We know, we know, we know, we know_

 _We'll be standing when it all falls down."_

On the last verse (a repeat of part of the chorus), the stronger music faded and the girls' had gentler voices.

" _This is how we out...run...the shadows..."_ Brandish sang quietly, before she was picked up by Sorano.

" _This is how we rest...from..the battles."_

And together, they sang: " _Be forever one, we know…"_

" _we know, we know, we know,"_ our words were whispered from each section.

 _We'll be standing when it all falls down,_ " on down, shadows appeared in the air and covered us again, blanketing the lights and the music.

It was time for the finale.

It was still dark, but the music started, with each beat another flicker of color.

I was careful (I didn't know if anyone got seizures in the universe, but I didn't want to cause one) and they appeared in each corner, in soft colors before fading, and not too sudden.

" _I can hear the lost, cry-ing…."_ Erigor's voice echoes around us again.

I didn't (and Erigor, agreed) want Erigor to solo again, but everyone agreed that his voice matched the previous singer's the best, so he ended up doing it anyway. At least no one was mad.

" _I can hear the truth, hid-ing….hid-ing..."_ There was a light now, from behind us, illuminating our silhouettes.

 _And the sha-dows are co-ming out…."_ The shadow monsters appeared again.

" _I see the fear….ri-sing…"_

 _"Yeah, but my hoooooo-pe is burn-ing….."_

 _"The shadows are calling us out…._ " The shadows all turned towards us.

And now the Chorus:

" _We are heroes!_

 _Heroes in the dark…est times._

 _When there is…no light. Ooooo-woah-hhhhhh."_ At the chorus, all of us were busy fighting our shadow monsters, the world lighting up around us in fireworks.

 _"We are heroes_

 _Heroes in the dark…est times._

 _But we'll rise…above Ooooo-woah-hhhhhh._

 _We are heroes!"_

 _"It's feeling like the sun's….hid-ing..."_ The light darkened.

" _But we're gonna keep mo-ving..."_ the remaining lighting turned a reddish orange, like a sunset. "… _sur-viv-ing…"_ We all crouched down, as if hiding from something.

 _"No we won't go qu-iet tonight…._

" _Stand up and shout….louder!_ " We slowly began to stand up.

 _"Oh no we won't be si-leeeeeent!_

 _The shadows are calling us out!"_

The lights appeared, and we were back to fighting, doing the same thing again.

" _We are heroes!_

 _Heroes in the dark…est times._

 _When there is…no light. Ooooo-woah-hhhhhh."_

 _We are heroes_

 _Heroes in the dark…est times."_

 _But we'll rise above…Ooooo-woah-hhhhhh._

 _We are heroes!"_

And now it was time for the bridge.

" _When the night is star-less_ ," at this, the light went out with only tiny dots – our 'stars' which began to blank out.

 _"Only we can spark it_ ," a small flame appeared on Natsu's finger.

" _Light it up, in the darkness,…"_ It lit up a bit more, before vanishing.

" _We the night is star-less. Only we can spark it._ " Now Natsu's flame was larger, much larger, showing not only his face but several people around him.

" _Light it up in the darkness…_ _Ooooo-woah-hhhhhh!"_

On those words, the light expanded, and all of the other lights showed up too as we returned to the chorus.

" _We are heroes!_

 _Heroes in the dark…est times._

 _When there is…no light. Ooooo-woah-hhhhhh_

 _We are heroes_

 _Heroes in the dark…est times."_

 _But we'll rise above…Ooooo-woah-hhhhhh._

 _We are heroes!"_

The music continued it's beat and the lights continued with it, before the final line was sung.

" _Oh we are heroes!..."_

The lights went out, before they came up again, the crowd bursting into applause.

* * *

In the shadows of the crowd, a feral man smirked.

He should have stood out, with his vivid, wild hair, tattered cape, and necklace made of teeth. He wore no shirt and no shoes, but he didn't care about service.

He didn't need any.

He looked at the mages, dancing and singing on the stage, and laughed to himself.

His eyes finally spotted her; the anomly. She had long dark hair and looked to be in her early teens.

Watching her, he scowled as he saw her use her Planetary Magic.

 _It's always the Stellar Mages…_ he sighed to himself. _Of course it's a Rigby._

But he had found the difference; the one that stuck out. The one he was searching for, because the world was changing.

" _Oh_ , _We are heroes!"_ he heard them sing.

As the crowd cheered, he sunk into the shadows more, and began to exit the town, walking along a deserted street.

 _Heroes, huh?_ He thought, and smirked.

The man lept into the air and transformed, flying away.

 _Guess that makes me the villain._


	105. Who Has Time to Relax, Nowadays?

**I AM ALIVE! I'm also _so_ sorry it's been so long. I was doing…uh…really really not good in one of my classes…so yeah. But luckily, I'm out of school! Thank you all who messaged me to see if I was alright! Also, previous Fantasia songs: First song was Standing When It All Falls Down by John De Sohn, and second was Heroes, by Zayde Wolfe.**

* * *

 **Chapter One Hundred and Five - Who Has Time To Relax, Nowadays?**

I sighed and relaxed back in Laxus's arms.

I loved all the kids, I really did (after a life of loneliness, it seems I had people _fighting_ over me now) but it also seemed like I never had any times to breathe, nowadays.

"You okay?" Laxus asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. This is just…nice."

I spent so much time taking care of the other kids, it felt _amazing_ to just let go and let _Laxus_ take care of _me_.

He gave me a small kiss.

We were inside, cuddled up on my bed and watching another episode of Sherlock.

A few days after Fantasia, after yet some more stress from the kids, Laxus and I packed up for a short vacation on Tenrou. We spent our days on the beach and our evenings watching more of one of my favorite shows.

Sherlock was one of those shows that I didn't dare show to the kids, because 1) over half of them would try to act like Sherlock and it would make the adults start trying to kill them and 2) I wasn't exactly sure it was appropriate for most of them.

Then again, I showed them Harry Potter and Avengers…

Well, I can show it to them later. But if I show it to them too early, I can't take it back…

Anyway, Laxus's sister was due in around a week, so Laxus insisted I relax before Mari gives birth.

I had no reason to argue, so I went. If needed, I have an emergency contact card if Mari goes into labor, so I can teleport there directly.

But for now, I relaxed next to Laxus and drifted off as our show ended, thinking about what had happened in the weeks before we left.

* * *

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE LEAVING?" Erza shouted.

Jellal was holding her back.

The other kids, while slightly scared, still stood up to her (though that might have been because Jellal was restraining her).

Literally, the day after Fantasia, the five of them dropped the bomb on us.

I knew it was coming.

"We're going to go traveling," Richard said, crossing his arms and looking down at the smaller girl. "We've already decided."

"But WHY?" Erza yelled.

"We wanna see the world, Erzy!" Millianna said.

"Millianna, I can guarantee at least four cats next year," I butted in.

"What does that even _mean_?" Gray muttered.

"It means we're getting cats!" Natsu shouted excitedly.

Laxus pulled him off the table he was standing on.

"Elle!" Sawyer said angrily.

I ignored the boys behind me and looked at the group in front of me. Richard, Wally, Sawyer, Sho and Millianna. "I'm just stating facts. She would've been more upset at me if she disappeared for a few years and I had never told her there would be cats soon, especially when I already knew it ahead of time."

Millianna was nodding. "That's right!"

"Look, we're not leaving the guild, sis," Sho said to Erza quietly. "But we wanna take a break, alright?"

"When will you be back?" Jellal asked, completely unfazed by the struggling girl in his arms.

They shrugged. "When we feel like it?" Wally offered.

Erza slumped over. "You're _really_ leaving?"

"Well…" Richard turned to the youngest of them. "Millianna, it's up to you. We can come pick you up in a year or two, if you'd like."

The nine-year-old hesitated, before finally relenting. "Alright fine, I'll stay awhile longer!"

Erza brightened and then she was squeezing Millianna with her breastplate. "Good! Since Sho will no longer be sharing a suite with me, you should move in!"

"What?" Sho asked.

"Erza!" I said. "What did I say about hugging? You need to requip into something else if you want whoever you're hugging to still be comfortable."

"Oh, right," Erza said, requipping into a regular blouse and then hugging Millianna again.

You know, sometimes I think she forgets on purpose.

"When will you guys be leaving?" I asked Richard, Wally, Sawyer and Sho.

"At the end of the year," Richard said. "But not immediately. We still have over two months left."

At this, Erza shouted for joy and the rest of the guild, who had been watching us from the sidelines, burst into cheers that we'd have more time with them.

"PARTY!" someone shouted, and I'm sure you could guess what followed.

* * *

"Lucy, we need to have a talk."

The girl froze in her tracks, and slowly turned around to face me. "Ellie-nee?"

I took her hand and teleported us back to my house, in my room, so we could have some privacy.

"What is it, Ellie-nee?" Lucy asked, shifting nervously.

My eyes narrowed. "I don't know, Lucy, why don't you tell me?"

She remained silent.

"Lucy, you've barely touched your magic. Why?"

She turned away. "I…I don't want to talk about it, Ellie-nee."

I glared at her and crossed my arms. "No, Lucy. This is not okay. _Something_ is wrong, and you are going to tell me what it is _right. Now._ "

There was silence as I stared at her and she squirmed, looking away. After a few moments, she quietly said, "I don't know."

"What?" I asked.

Okay, to be fair, I don't even remember what I asked her after our long stare down.

"I don't _know_ Ellie-nee! But…I can't use magic because what if the mark goes away?" Lucy cried, throwing herself at me.

I wrapped my arms around her and comforted her. "It's okay, Lucy," I shushed, stroking her hair and rocking her back and forth. "We'll figure it out, alright? But you need to _breathe_ and tell me what's _wrong_ , so we can solve the problem."

Lucy, still crying, nodded, and tried to lower her sobs. With each and each hiccup, she got quieter, until she was finally composed.

"Alright," I said, hugging her and trying to sooth her. "Now tell me what happened."

"…You remember when Mommy died?" Lucy asked.

I tensed.

How could I _forget_?

"You remember when she drew on my forehead?" Lucy continued.

I pulled back so I could look at her, looking at her eyes and brushing her hair behind her ear. "What about it, sweetheart?"

"Well…there's a mark now," Lucy whispered quietly, looking back at me.

My eyes darted up.

"You can't see it," Lucy said immediately. "I think only I and my spirits can. And it glows when I use magic. And…and it's the only thing I have left of her. I don't wanna lose it."

We were both quiet.

"Ellie-nee?" Lucy whispered.

"I'm thinking," I told her, started out of the silence. I played with her hair some more. "Alright? We'll come up with something."

She nodded and leaned into my embrace.

"I have some books I can look through," I said. "Do you want me to take you back to the guild, or do you wanna walk?"

"…Walk," Lucy said, giving me a soft smile, and a quick hug.

I watched her walk out the door and down the trail to the city.

"You can come out now, Zeref," I said.

He stepped through a wall and into my sight. I turned to face him. "You know what it is, don't you?"

He nodded, his face puzzled. "Though I don't know why no one else can see it or why it's been glowing. But it's called an Heir Mark."

"An Heir Mark?" I asked.

He nodded and sat next to me. "It does exactly what it sounds like; marks the next Heir of the family."

"And by Heir…" I trailed off.

"I usually mean the future Head of the family. It shows who is next in line, and it also carries the power and blessing of previous Heads. The one with it is usually the first born, though not always, and it is usually the most powerful child of the generation in that family's specific magic."

My mind was starting to connect to some things, but first… "Is that why Levy doesn't have the same Mark on her face as Jellal?"

Zeref nodded. "Yes. As far as I know, the Fernandez family is the only one that still actively claims their Heir and does the ceremony. From the sounds of it, Layla tried to do the same last minute, as she was dying."

"Why didn't she do it earlier?" I asked, though I realized as soon as I asked the question. Layla hadn't been able to use magic because of her Magical Deficiency. I remembered how she said that she didn't want the last of her magic to go to waste. "Wait, I think I get it."

I turned to look at the boy sitting next to me, thinking, before my mind connected it and I sat up straight. "Is that also why Levy didn't get hit when we were attacked by the light from Ivan's machine during the Tower of Heaven raid?"

Zeref nodded. "Yes."

"But wait…" I frowned. "Didn't Yukino get hit by the light, too? She's not the first born."

"You're right, she's not," Zeref said. "But I believe that she is the Heir, not Sorano."

"Why would it skip Sorano?" I asked, confused.

Zeref shrugged. "It just happens sometimes. And while it means that Sorano will still be skilled in her Moon Magic, it also means that it's probably been her secondary magic all along, and that her primary magic is another form."

I groaned. "Alright. Anything else I should know?"

Zeref shook his head. "I suggest we do research, and also see if Corvus will come out on his own to answer questions. But I think that's all for now. I still do not know why it glows, or why none of us can see the mark."

I nodded, before asking. "Zeref…"

He looked back at me from where he had stood up. "Yes, Elle?"

"What does my Heir mark look like?" I asked him.

His face softened. "There's no way for you to get one, Elle. But you'll be able to pass it to your children, once they're born."

He smiled and left.

It's only _after_ that it occurred to me that Zeref had said 'children', even though there's only one Heir.

* * *

A frown crossed my face just thinking about it, but I shook it off. Laxus and I didn't have much longer on vacation, and I wanted to enjoy it before I went back to a pregnant woman and the guild's usual chaos (and don't get me wrong I love it, I just need a break).

I stretched in my seat and curled into Laxus's side.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, playing with my hair.

"No," I said, my head laying against his heart. "Everything is right."

* * *

Everything was not right, _everything was not right_.

Mari was giving birth, and _it was not going well._

Gildarts was five seconds from being kicked out of the room, even though I think Mari was holding his hand so hard it wouldn't separate for weeks.

Laxus was hovering in the doorway, trying to keep Jellal and Cana calm, though he wasn't doing a very good job of that.

And Porlyusica was too distracted to yell at them to get out because she was muttering about a C-Section under her breath.

I paled.

I had read about what happens during C-Sections. And let's just say it's something _I never want to see_.

"Can't I just use _Haumea's Deliverance_?" I asked her. I had already used _Haumea's Blessing_ to get rid of Mari's pain. She was mostly clinging to Gildarts now because of habit.

Porlyusica shook her head. "Unless you have a spell that moves the baby, we need to do a C-Section. She's facing the wrong way."

Moves the baby? What…

" _Haumea's Shift._ "

There it was again. Happening without me even realizing it.

Porlyusica leaned down again. "Alright, we're in the clear."

" _Haumea's Deliverance_ ," I said, and the baby popped out.

Both Mari and I sagged in relief. Mari from finally finishing, and myself from finally being done with the spells, which were a lot more difficult now that I know what I'm doing.

I also wasn't feeling very well, but Laxus passed me some crackers. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Better," I said, eating one of the crackers.

He smiled at me, and Porlyusica approached Mari and Gildarts with a now-swaddled baby. "Are you two ready to meet your new daughter?"

Mari reached out her arms eagerly for the girl. She and Gildarts smiled at each other, before looking back down at their daughter.

Laxus and I moved closer to the couple and their new child, and Jellal and Cana entered the room more.

"She's beautiful," Mari said, smiling.

The child's hair was a glossy orange/gold color. Her eyes opened and looked directly in mine, and I lost my breath.

"How about the name-" Mari started.

"Amber," I whispered.

"What?" she asked, looking at me. "Yes, that was what I was going to suggest, but how…?"

I couldn't even hear her. I suddenly felt like I couldn't breathe, and the world was tilting. My head was pounding, and I was suddenly swarmed with images, pictures, so many memories…

The last thing I remembered was Laxus catching me as I passed out.

* * *

I woke up on a soft bed. The air was still and I was looking at the ceiling, and I felt _extremely_ comfy.

"Well," came a voice. "I was wondering when you were going to wake up."

I stared at her as I sat up. _Are you fucking kidding me? I'm here? AGAIN?_

Aloud, I said, "You know, you've really got to get a better way of contacting me."

The woman smirked. "This wasn't exactly planned. Now…" she shut her book and sat up, her eyes meeting mine.

"Well, Elle," God said. "It's time we have a chat."

* * *

 **Next stop, will be Elle's memories and backstory. Also, I'm glad I managed to get this up today, because it's the One Year Anniversary of Ripples's posting! :D**

 **Now, unfortunately, updates will probably slow down for a few reasons. One, I've got a busy summer planned. And two, my muse is acting up. It's pretty much grabbing me and shoving me in Rick Riordan's direction, shouting, "YOU REMEMBER PERCY JACKSON? REMEMBER WHEN YOU TRICKED YOURSELF INTO THINK YOU WERE A DEMIGOD BECAUSE YOU HAVE ADHD AND DYSLEXIA AND WERE IN 6TH GRADE? DO YOU REMEMBER HOW MUCH YOU LOVED THIS FUCKING SERIES? NO? WELL _GO LOVE IT AGAIN_."**

 **And that was kinda what happened. So here's the problem. There's only one way for me to stick to both Percy Jackson (because that won't stop anytime soon, unfortunately) and also Fairy Tail (and yes I'll still be updating Ripples and DoD and stuff).**

 **So I've created another story! Yay.**

 **Sorry for all the WIPs, guys. Anyway, it's in the Fairy Tail section (it's not a crossover), and it's a Percy Jackson AU, where all the wizards are pretty much demigods. That one will probably be updated more often than Ripples and DoD, but they'll all be slowing down until the series starts up again in the Fall and I get some new FT content. I'd appreciate it if you check it out!**


	106. A Mistaken Memory

**Sorry this took awhile. Updates; I moved Lucy Heartfilia and the World of the Gods to the crossover section. So if you want to read it, it's under Percy Jackson and Fairy Tail crossovers. And, you know, you could always go through _my_ profile. Just saying. Sorry this chapter is a bit short; the next one should cover most of the memories.**

 **Also, to the multiple people who asked; as far as I know, I created the whole Heir Mark thing. I know that I did not create Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Magic, as I have found several fics mentioning them after I started writing them, but I don't know if that's a fanon thing or a Mashima-thing.**

* * *

 **Chapter One Hundred and Six - A Mistaken Memory**

"I'm assuming I'm not dead?" I asked dryly.

"That's not what you assumed last time," God said, amused. "Why are you assuming it now?"

"Mostly because it would really fucking _suck_ if I died like that," I admitted.

She smiled. "No, you're not dead." She gestured to a chair across from her. Rather than a table and chairs, there were two armchairs in front of a fire, which appeared out of nowhere. I approached and sat down in the other one, and the bed I had awoken on vanished behind me.

"Care to explain what happened?" I asked.

She sighed. "I'm not quite sure. But aren't you happy to see Amber again?"

I glared at her. "I still don't know who Amber _is_."

Her eyes widened and she vanished, leaving me alone.

"A – are you kidding me? Really?"

After what felt like forever (but was probably only a few seconds) she reappeared and sat down with a sigh. "I understand what happened now."

"Care to fill me in?" I asked.

She nodded. "Do you remember me telling you that your past wasn't exactly the happiest?"

I nodded.

"They were set to slowly release so they didn't overwhelm you, and you didn't have to deal with too much trauma at once," she continued.

"But that didn't happen," I said. "I didn't get any memories."

She nodded. "So it wouldn't be too much at a time, they were set to release after you had adjusted to them. Unfortunately…" she ran her fingers through her hair, a surprisingly human gesture for the controller of the universe. "…because of Ivan and your...recovery from those experiences, your memories were continuously put off."

 _'Too much trauma at once'_. So if I haven't had to deal with Ivan...

I stared at her. "So…that explains why I didn't get any memories. But what happened with the baby?"

She sighed. "I thought you'd like the surprise. There's a large amount of children coming, now that you've brought so many couples together, whether by accident or not. So I figured this would be a nice surprise, being reunited. But since you didn't get any memories, seeing Amber triggered the release on them, and they overwhelmed you."

"And that's how I'm here?" I asked her.

She nodded. "Until you get your memories in order, you'll still be in a coma. We'll have to go through the traumatic memories one by one in order for you to handle it, which is why you still don't remember as you are now."

" _Great_ ," I grumbled. "Will I at least wake up in time for Laxus's birthday?"

"If we hurry," she said. "The question is…are you ready?"

I swallowed. It seemed weird to be scared of my own past. But that didn't stop the fear from rolling around in my stomach. "No. But I can't really put it off any longer."

She nodded in approval, took my arm, and the world _shifted_ around us.

* * *

Gajeel was not okay.

Then again, most of them weren't okay.

Elle wasn't exactly normal, yes, but helping someone give birth and then passing out was far off the mark even for _her_.

Now the infirmary was blocked off, with only a small (compared to the rest of the guild) amount of people; Makarov, who was overseeing everything. Gildarts, Mari, and the creepy baby with _too_ intelligent eyes, who were resting a few beds away. Mavis and Zeref, the ultimate ghost couple. And Laxus, Erik, Macbeth, Lucy, Jellal, Freed and Juvia, who couldn't stay away from their 'sister' (with the exception of Laxus) if they tried.

So Gajeel wasn't exactly sure why he was there.

"Can someone tell me why the hell I'm here?" he asked.

"You spent the longest amount of time with your dragon," Macbeth explained, while Erik and Laxus leaned over Elle, studying her.

"So?" Gajeel asked.

Freed interrupted. "According to Ella-sama, everything tends to come back to several things; Zeref-"

Zeref raised a hand. "Here."

"We're not taking attendance," Laxus growled at him, annoyed.

Freed sighed. "Everything tends to originate from several things. Three things in particular; Zeref, Stellar Magic, and Dragons."

"Since you're the only slayer who was _actively_ raised by a dragon, you might have more information on this," Jellal finished. "Plus, you look at Elle like a sister, too."

Gajeel looked away, trying to stop from blushing. "No I don't."

"Tsundere," Laxus muttered.

The kids snorted. Elle stayed asleep.

"Damn," Laxus said. "I was hoping that'd wake her up."

"Why would _that_ wake her up?" Erik asked.

"So she could yell something like, 'you're one to talk'."

Lucy giggled. "Laxus-nii just admitted he's a tsundere."

"I'm _not_ a tsundere!" Laxus said.

More silence as they all stared at Elle, who was still sleeping.

Laxus sighed and continued. "But she always replies to that, so…"

The mood turned somber.

"Well, that didn't work," Gajeel said. "Any other brilliant ideas?"

"Could you be more sarcastic if you tried?" Macbeth snapped.

"I dunno, can I?"

"This is serious, Gajeel!" Macbeth said.

"I know that, Beth!"

"I told you, _only Erigor gets to call me that!_ "

"Quiet!"

The two froze and slowly turned to face Juvia, who was tapping her foot as she stared at them angrily and impatiently.

They gulped.

She glared at them. Then;

"No fighting in the infirmary! You could hurt Onee-sama."

When she said nothing more and turned back to Elle, the two of them breathed sighs of relief.

"Idiots," Jellal muttered.

"Lucy," Laxus said randomly.

Everyone turned to him, then her.

He had been tuning out the fighting and was deep in thought.

"Can you summon Phoenix?"

Lucy's eyes went wide. She didn't want to summon Phoenix – she didn't want to use her magic at all – but this was for _Elle_.

"Uh…" everyone turned to Erik, who was staring directly above Elle, at a glowing timer that was counting down.

Everyone stared at it quietly before -

"That's not foreboding at all," Gajeel said.

Erik snorted. "Did you just say ' _foreboding_ '? Someone's been hanging around with Levy for too long."

Gajeel started to blush. "No. No, I said… 'foreshadowing'! Yeah, that's right. I said foreshadowing."

"How is that foreshadowing, Gajeel-san?" Freed asked with a sigh. "You _do_ know that foreshadowing is a literary device?"

"I know!" Gajeel said defensively. "But it's…yeah, it's foreshadowing…that something's going to happen when it finishes counting down!"

He stared at them all triumphantly.

"You've been spending _way_ too much time with Levy," Erik said with a snort.

"Shut up!"

"No fighting!" Juvia said with a growl, and she hit both of them in the face with a wave of water.

"What do you think it's counting down to?" Laxus asked. He had stayed quiet the whole time, simply looking at the countdown and squeezing Elle's hand.

"Maybe it's when she's supposed to wake up?" Jellal suggested.

"But it's days from now!" Laxus cried, staring at the timer.

Erik shrugged. "It's still less than a week."

Then the timer stopped.

They all stared at it.

Slowly, the seconds began counting _up_ , before moving faster and faster, speeding through and adding over a week's worth of time.

"At least it's still before your birthday," Erik said with a shrug.

The timer added two days before Laxus had a chance to shout, "SHUT UP!"

They were all quiet, staring at the timer.

It started again, but this time it was counting down like it was supposed to.

They still stared at it.

It continued counting down.

Slowly, they started to relax.

Just as the last one of them exhaled, a burst of fire appeared and they all jumped several feet in the air. Juvia threw a ball of water on it, and the fire went out, leaving a sputtering, dripping wet Phoenix in its place.

"Not cool," he said, shivering and starting up his fire again. "You shouldn't be able to put out my fire."

Juvia just shrugged. "Blame Onee-sama?"

"Why?" Freed asked.

"Well, it _is_ usually her fault," Macbeth muttered.

"Anyway," Phoenix continued, ignoring them. "I'm here to tell you what this is all about. Elle is fine; she'll wake up once the countdown is done, and you'll see her again soon, alright?"

"Where did the countdown even come from?" Laxus asked.

Phoenix grinned. "I suggested it! I thought it might reassure you if you knew when she'd wake up."

"Reassure us; I thought Elle might explode," Macbeth muttered under his breath.

"I'll see you guys later! Bye!" Phoenix continued before bursting into flame and vanishing.

After several seconds of silence, Makarov sighed.

"Well. I think that's enough excitement for one day."

There was a crash from the adjoining room and he sighed. "Maybe not. Come on, let's go bail out Ur."

"I thought Silver-san was in charge, too?" Juvia asked.

Gildarts snorted. "Sure. Silver. In charge. That's funny."

"We should let Elle rest in peace," Mari told them.

Slowly, with the exception of Mari and Gildarts, who were still cradling their child, everyone got up and began to leave, until there was only Laxus who was sitting by her side.

* * *

We were in a hallway made of clouds.

Or at least that's what it looked like.

"Would you like me to accompany you?" she asked.

"Please," I said.

 _Does that make me weak?_

She smiled gently and moved forward, leading the way. I trailed behind her, looking at the fluffy iridescent clouds and bubbles around us.

"These are the memories you'll gain again when you sleep over time. We still don't want you to get too much at once," she continued saying. "But we're going to go to the point where your life probably started changing from what you believed happened."

"Okay…"

"It started when you were six."

The clouds had slowly been turning darker, and the scene formed in front of them.

"Am I watching this in third person?" I asked.

"Yes."

It was weird, looking at myself. Especially because I still had my brown hair.

I looked at my own hair, but it was purple even in this dreamworld.

I looked back up and watch as I played with a toy I'm pretty sure I was given at the school.

"Why is the memory such an odd color?" I asked God.

"It means that it's a tainted memory. That doesn't mean it's a bad memory – bad memories aren't _tainted_ , they're just _bad._ If it was tainted, you originally looked back on it a different way; usually fondly."

"So I used to like this memory?..." I trailed off.

She nodded. "Yes. But looking back on it, it became less pleasing for you, and you got a darker outlook on it."

We turned back to the scene, where I (or mini!Elle?) was being approached by the orphanage's Matron, followed by an odd couple.

The couple introduced themselves as Katie and Alistair, and spent around an hour talking with the younger me about inconsequential things, before the memory faded.

"What?" I asked, turning to God.

"There are three of these, I think, before things start taking a turn." As she spoke, the scene shifted to another day, where I was busy coloring and talking to Katy and Alistair as I drew pictures for them. It shifted one last time, where I was on Katie's lap as she was reading me a book.

Katie nodded at Alistair, who was speaking with the Matron (I was starting to feel uncomfortable with the fact that I didn't remember her name, or the name of the orphanage, especially considering that I didn't run away until I was twelve).

Alistair turned back to the Matron and started filling out papers, and an odd mix between dread and hope was filling my stomach. Because that never happened. Right?

And finally, they approached me and Katie, and the Matron tried to explain things to me.

The younger me wasn't getting it. (I had only been six, so cut me some slack). But I understood what was happening (even though it _didn't_ happen like that, it _hadn't_ ) even before the Matron had sighed and said, "Eleanor, this couple just adopted you. They're going to be your new parents."


	107. Another Empty Bottle

**Happy birthday, Rynn! (aka Bnemesis).**

 **Whaaaaaaaat? An update?**

 **Okay so here's the thing: someone pointed out that I seem to have lost interest in this story, which is both true and not. While I love this story and will never abandon it, it is getting harder and harder for my Muse to stick to the Fairy Tail fandom. That being said, my quick updated will probably not return until Fall, when the anime picks up again. I will still update until then, but they will be slower; you good don't deserve any less than my best.**

 **Thank you! And also: ANGST ALERT.**

* * *

 **Chapter One Hundred and Seven - Another Empty Bottle**

There are good days and bad days.

The days in the guild had always been split like that, and!they always seemed to revolve around Elle. Good days were the days that Elle would be by their sides, laughing, joking, and causing all-around chaos.

Bad days were the days when Elle was gone. Busy doing timeline things, or when she was hurt, like now.

The entire guild was toned down, still worried for the girl asleep next to him.

On the one hand, Laxus liked the quiet, particularly from Natsu.

But he'd take it all back for Elle.

 _I hope you wake up soon,_ he thought, looking down on her sleeping form and squeezing her hand.

The guild was too quiet without her.

* * *

This couldn't be true. Nothing was making sense. I hadn't been adopted, not ever. Why would I have ever run away from the Orphanage if I thought I would be adopted? It wasn't going to happen, especially by the time I was twelve.

"I promise you, this _did_ happen," God said.

I looked at her. "But-"

She put her hands on my shoulders, and warmth bloomed through me. "Elle. Listen."

"Yeah?" I asked, trying to focus my breathing before I had what I think might be a panic attack.

"You are living a new life. Do not let these memories define you. You must only know your past so you can understand it and _move on_. Do you understand?"

After a second of some still-harsh breathing, I took a deep breath and nodded.

"Do you think you can continue?"

After a few more deep breaths, I nodded again.

The world around us shifted, changing, and we were standing in a small house.

Most of the memories sped by, giving me barely a glimpse, and I remembered that God told me that I would receive the peaceful memories in my dreams; that we would be watching the other memories for now.

Not too long after I moved in with Katy and Alistair (Al), Katy got pregnant.

After watching my past-self break down in tears, I thought that I finally understood what was so bad about my past; but I didn't. Instead of being returned to the orphanage like I thought I would be (now that they had a child of their own), Katy and Al didn't give me up.

The baby was born with a beautiful shock of golden orange hair, and was named _Amber_.

* * *

They weren't getting enough money.

Even with Al and Katy each working, there wasn't enough income for the entire family. I got scared again, both in the now, while looking watching, and in the past, when I was a tiny seven-year-old. I thought I'd be returned to the orphanage. Again. (It seemed to be a reoccurring fear, not that I could blame myself. But maybe I'm biased.)

No one could take care of Amber, so they also had to pay money to monitor her while they were working and I was at school.

So I thought they were going to give me up so they could properly raise their _real_ daughter.

But it didn't happen.

Instead, Alistair came home later than usual one night, crowing with happiness.

"You won't believe it!" he cried happily, picking up Katy and spinning her around and kissing her.

"Al? What happened?" she asked when he finally let her breathe.

He beamed at her, and picked up the younger me and Amber, kissing both of us on our foreheads, before setting us back down on the blanket.

He turned back to Katy. "I got a new job!" he said excitedly.

Katie approached him cautiously. "You did?"

"Yes!" he said happily, grasping her hands and squeezing them. "It's a wonderful job, and should help cover _all_ of our costs!"

Amber was too young to properly understand what was going on (she wasn't even a year old, yet) but she giggled because of the happy feelings Al was giving off.

Katie kissed Al, and everything seemed to be fine.

* * *

I turned back to God.

"I don't get it," I said.

"You will," she said quietly. "Only a few more memories. Then you can recover. That's the real reason you'll probably be asleep for so long. To sort through your thoughts."

I gave her a wary nod, and turned back to the memory, which I realized was even darker than the other ones.

"Why is it so dark?" I asked.

"Because it was tainted more. It was valued at a higher level, and it fell lower than the others did."

"So what, it's not the end result, but the change that influences the taint?" I asked.

God nodded. "You are starting to understand. Slowly. But there is more to come."

The scene in front of us shifted, to what was probably a week or so later.

Amber was asleep and I was under the covers, trying to block out Katy's angry yells at Alistair, which were hard to distinguish through the walls.

"Why are they fighting?" I asked.

"It should be explained soon enough," God said.

The memory shifted again, and settled.

"Why are we jumping here?" I asked.

Because it was a big jump. In the previous memory, I was around eight. In this memory, I was twelve, and Amber was sitting next to me, at four years of age.

"Because this is when things really started changing before life tracked itself back to what you remember," God explained. "Give it a little more time. Everything else will fill in later. But if I give you all the details now, chronologically, then it'll hit you much worse when things unfold. Better for you to remember those moments throughout time."

I nodded, still not entirely sure what she was talking about, though I had some ideas, and settled down to watch.

Eventually, I figured it out.

The best way I can explain this is with another story that really pulled me in. Fullmetal Alchemist vs Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Brotherhood ended up getting rid of a lot of the filler so they can fit in more plot.

The original Fullmetal Alchemist made you get a lot more attached to the characters because of the amount of filler it had.

Maybe it was a bad way of looking at my own life, but if God was showing me all the major points so I could understand what happened to me before I could see how attached I am to everything…too every _one_ …

I didn't want to think too deeply about it.

But this life seemed pretty good. And I liked Katy and Al well enough, from what I've seen.

So how did I lose it?

* * *

The answer came all at once.

"Katy, where are the girls?"

Al burst through the door several hours early, scrambling towards Katy, who had the day off because it was a Saturday.

This memory was different from the others. I wasn't watching a younger me; this time I _was_ me.

"Daddy?" Amber asked from beside me on the ground, playing with Legos.

"We're all right here, dear, what is it?" Katy asked, turning away from the lunch she was preparing.

"We need to go. Now," he said.

Katy's face paled and she nodded, heading towards the garage.

"Al, what's going on?" I asked, standing up and gathering Amber into my arms, a feeling of dread passing down my spine.

"Nothing you need to worry too much about," he said, trying to smile down at me. "Take your sister and pack some bags, okay? We're going on a trip."

I nodded, though confused, and took Amber with me to our room so we could start packing.

"Wha's goin' on Ellie?" she asked, her slight speech impediment getting in the way.

"I don't know," I said, shoving some clothes into the suitcase under the bed.

"Why's Momma and Dadda weiwd?"

"Why are Mommy and Daddy _acting_ weird. 'Acting', sweetie."

"Actin'."

I nodded, throwing in some more clothes. "Good job. And I'm not sure. But they'll tell us soon enough, alright? Probably once we leave for the trip."

"Owkay," Amber said, and I sighed, knowing that I'd have to go over her words again.

"Alright, let's go," I said, shouldering the bag. "Can you walk?"

"Do I haf' ta?"

"Yes," I said sternly. "And it's 'have to'."

"Hav' to."

I sighed, holding out my hand. "Alright, let's go."

I pulled her out of the room only to freeze in my steps and try to shove her back into it.

"Well, what's this?" a man purred, his eyes glinting with something I couldn't name.

At least, I couldn't at twelve.

Looking at the malicious intent now, I realized that my body recognized it anyway as it started to shake.

He leveled the gun at us, before turning to Al and Katy, who had their hands up with guns aimed at their own heads.

I didn't move, I didn't _breathe._

"Where is it?" the man asked Al, grabbing onto my shoulder and bringing me closer to the gun.

"In the safe," he stammered. "In the closet."

The man pursed his lips and grabbed Amber's arm, yanking her over to another one of the men.

She opened her mouth to protest, but I met her eyes and shook my head. The four-year-old kept her mouth shut in an uncharacteristic manner.

The man pushed me forward and looked at Al. "Show me."

Al nodded and led the man into another room, with me being dragged along with a gun to my head.

Al opened the closet and went to his knees, opening up the safe before pulling out a file.

"Very funny," the man spat, putting the gun directly to my head, the cold end touching my head and nearly making me throw up from fear. "Where's the drive?"

"What drive?" Al asked, confused.

"The _flashdrive_ , I'm not an idiot!" the man snapped. "Where's the backup?"

"I swear, I don't have one! Please, don't hurt my family!" Al begged.

" _Where is it_?" the man hissed.

"He's not lying," I said quietly, still shaking.

The man stiffened in surprise before looking down at me. "What did you say?"

"Al doesn't know how to use computers," I said, trying not to hyperventilate. "If he needs to digitize something for work he'll write it out on paper and I'll type it up for him at the school library. We don't even have a computer or a printer in the house."

The man seemed to believe us, which was good, because it was the truth, before turning to look back at Al. "What, you living under a _rock_ or something?"

Al didn't say anything. Neither did I.

The man sighed and took the folder with one hand, nudging me and Al back into the other room with the gun at my head.

"Burn it," he said, tossing the folder to one of his goons. The other man nodded and pulled out a lighter, flicking it on and holding it underneath the paper folder, which began to curl up from the flames.

I didn't see how we were going to get out of this alive. It _looked_ like the men were fine with just leaving us here, but that only made me feel like there was a bomb planted somewhere.

The men were slightly relaxed and about to leave when the first bullet came flying through the window, hitting one of the men in the head in a perfect shot.

The body toppled over, and the blood started staining the floor.

"You-!" the lead man lifted the gun-

Another shot rang out and the man holding Katy fell.

The man in charge aimed and pulled the trigger.

At the exact same moment, he was tackled by Katy to the floor.

The world seemed to slow down as police barged in through the door, but my eyes were only on trail the bullet had lead. Instead of aiming at me, or Al, the man had turned to Amber and shot her.

I couldn't look away. I couldn't move.

I couldn't do anything but scream.

I collapsed to the floor, pulling myself over to her, as the noise slowly returned to me. The ringing of the gunshot faded slightly in my ears, and I could hear Katy screaming in the background at the man on the floor.

Al was saying something to her, probably trying to pull her away from the man to say goodbye to Amber.

Because it was _going_ to be a goodbye.

The girl was crying and she held my hand. "Ellie…"

"Hey," I sobbed. "Shhhh, you'll…you'll be okay…"

"Ellie, I'm scared," she whispered. "It hurts."

I did the only thing I could do; distract her, because there was no other way to help her.

"Well, you're in big trouble, missy!" I said, my voice choking up in a joking manner. "You've been faking your speech impediment for awhile now, haven't you?"

She grinned at me. "You gave me more cookies."

"You little twerp!" I said, trying not to cry and failing. I heard footsteps behind me and knew that Al and Katy had joined us.

"I love you, Ellie," Amber whispered.

"I love you, Amber," I whispered back.

"We love you, Amber," Katy said over my shoulder, Al on the other side.

"Momma. Dadda. I love you."

"We love you too, Amber. Forever and always," Al whispered, each of them taking one of her hands.

"I'm so scared," she whispered. "It's...it's hard to see, Ellie."

"Just close your eyes," I said, stroking her hair. "Just like going to sleep."

The girl's eyes closed and I leaned my head forward to rest my forehead against hers. "It'll be alright," I told her, as she breathed in, and out.

My eyes were closed too, as I laid with my forehead against hers, listening to her breathing, and memories flashed by in my mind.

Playing outside in the river.

 _In, and out._

Teaching Amber math.

 _In, and out._

The two of us, laughing over a story I was reading to her.

 _In…_

Her breathing stopped, and I screamed again this time, in pain and agony over losing my sister.

* * *

Elle's body arched as her eyes opened and she bolted upright, screaming in agony.

Laxus awoke with a start, staring at Elle, at first feeling (for a split second) joy that she was awake, before horror quickly washed over him.

She wasn't screaming in agony; she was screaming in _anguish_.

Laxus remembered Elle once telling him about how people could feel mental and emotional pain could cause actual physical pain.

 _This is it_ , he told himself. This _is what that looks like_.

Worse (or perhaps better?), Elle wasn't _actually_ awake. Her unseeing eyes were an eerie white, and for a second, Laxus was afraid that she'd become blind. But no; her eyes were unseeing because she was basically still unconscious, and her eyes changed back and forth from the white of clouds to the glow of the moon. Not her usual light blue, that seemed to shine when she used her magic.

She was sobbing, not blinking, but tears welling up and falling anyway as she screamed and sobbed some more. Laxus climbed on the bed and pulled her closer to him, wrapping his arms around her while she sobbed into his shirt.

It seemed like forever, with her practically screaming and him whispering sweet nonsense into her ear.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the door peek open, Macbeth and Erik in the doorway. Their eyes widened at the sight before Laxus glared at them and jerked his head. They got the memo and slammed the door shut right as footsteps started pounding and a series of voices asked about Elle, all rising in volume.

The noises shut off as the wall glimmered, and Laxus breathed a bit easier, knowing that Freed had put up a rune wall to stop the others from hearing Elle's screaming. If anything, Elle would be upset that they heard that when she finally woke up.

Speaking of waking up…

The timer above her head seemed frozen, blinking, and Laxus wondered what it meant.

She _still_ had to wake up. Right?

Eventually, Elle was still gasping, her chest heaving, but had quieted down. She was trying to cry, but it seemed like there was nothing more to come out. Her eyes were still open and unseeing as Laxus laid her back down, and he adjusted her body and closed her eyes on the bed. She was still breathing heavily, and her face was scrunched up in pain, but it seemed it was all over.

And the timer started counting once more.

 _Please wake up soon, Elle._

* * *

In the months that followed, I was nearly catatonic. Al began to drink. He and Katy would fight more and more. I could hear their shouting through the walls.

I knew that they loved me (or did they?), but they were neglecting me.

I began to feel happier asleep than when awake, when I could sink into dreams of what a family _should_ be; of what it _was_ for me for the past four years.

And after a month of it, I ran away.

They didn't look for me. I told myself that it was probably because they knew that I was smart and could take care of myself, and that they probably thought I was better off without them, but I don't know if that's true. A dark voice in the back of my mind said that they just didn't care.

But no. They didn't look for me, and so I didn't look back.


	108. Pieces in Place

**Happy Birthday to Jeptwin (yesterday), DrakOF (today), and Mortelia (Thursday)!**

* * *

 **Chapter One Hundred and Eight - Pieces in Place**

"I'll give you some time alone," God said, leaving me behind in a room that looked like clouds.

I collapsed on the ground (on a cloud?) and stared up at the sky. I couldn't even cry right now.

Was this why I chose to be alone this time around? I had the opportunity to be raised with _real parents_ – was this why I didn't take it?

They were supposed to take care of me and Amber, and they failed, and I learned that I could only count on myself.

When I told God that I wanted to start out as a child and that I didn't want to be _born_ into the other universe, but rather brought into it, I thought it was because I was impatient (after all, it was hard enough waiting from the age of nine). I also told myself that it was because too much adult supervision would restrict my movements.

I tried to think over the mother-like relationships I had in my life; Layla, and Ame and now Mari, a bit (Ur and Maggie were like those cool aunts).

But even then…there are things that I wouldn't do for Layla or anyone.

I was lying alone in a room of clouds, and felt emptier than one.

* * *

After a certain amount of time, I finally left that room.

I found God sitting by a fireplace, knitting with gray yarn with a bluish-purple tint and looking at TV where she watched something that looked vaguely familiar.

"What's that?" I asked, slightly curious.

"Hm?" she asked, looking up. "Oh. I'm just watching someone else's secondary adventures."

I blinked. "Like me? I thought you said that didn't happen often."

"It doesn't. Less than 0.0001% of souls choose to continue. Most choose to wait for someone, and even after that, they usually don't slide into a fictional section of the multiverse."

I blinked. "How…how many souls choose to do that, then?"

"Oh…somewhere over ten thousand?" God hummed.

"…..oh," I said.

I kinda thought that jumping into a universe like I did made me special.

"Don't be silly," God said, looking up from her…hat? It looks like a hat. (Not like a top hat, you can't knit those, even if you are God. Like a beanie-type hat). "Every person is special, because they're all unique in different ways. Do you know the amount of combinations needed in order to make human life possible?"

"A lot?" I guessed.

She hummed, nodding. "Then there's the differences in each person. People tend to be put in a random variety of situations, and they each form themselves from what they go through. Each person is uniquely _themselves_. And even then, you're not the same you that you were a day ago, much less many years ago. There's no way to 'replace' someone, Elle. Everyone is different, and constantly shifting and changing, and there's nothing wrong with that."

She smiled back down at her hat, and went back to knitting. "So, you're not the only one who jumped into another universe. So what? That doesn't make you any less special. Besides, you're happy, and the people you care about are happy. Does anything else really matter?"

No, I guess it didn't, not really. Not when you put it like that.

"Thanks," I said softly.

She smiled back up at me. "Why don't you sit down?"

She nodded at the chair across from me and I slowly sat down in it. The TV froze and went dark.

It was quiet, while God hummed and knitted her hat, and I sat there, thinking and basking in the warmth of the fire.

"Why?" I asked softly.

The humming stopped. "Why what?"

"Are you going to make me ask it?" I asked her.

"Should I?" she asked me.

I must have looked stricken at that, because she sighed and answered my question anyway. "Bitterness. He knew he was going down, so he hit your family where it would hurt the most."

"It's stupid," I muttered, glaring at the floor.

"It is," God agreed, and I saw her nod out of the corner of her eye. "But it's also human."

"What happens to them when they die?" I asked. "People like...that?"

"Ever hear the phrase 'what goes around, comes around'?" she asked me.

"Karma?"

"More or less. It gets a bit more complicated in certain scenarios, but most of the time, when people die, they're generally in balance. The difference between the beginning and the end is that your soul has matured over your life. The soul, in some such ways, grows much like the mind, advancing, but only able to handle so much from a younger point. And then, when you die, you're asked on what you want to do next."

"What if they're a kid?" I asked. "Like Amber?"

"If they're younger than twelve, it's likely that they'll either a) get reborn quite quickly after their death or b) will be given an opportunity mixed between their own choice and the choice of others."

"What do you mean?"

"You have a claim on Amber," she told me. "Perhaps even more than her parents. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. And this is one such case. Her only wish, as complicated as it _could_ be, mainly amounted to wanting to be with you."

"What about Al and Katie?" I asked.

"They have lost their claim on Amber," God said, shaking her head. "And the answer for that is much more complicated."

I didn't ask. I didn't want to know.

"Now what?" I asked.

"I don't know," she said. "It's up to you."

I looked into the fire as she knitted some more, before I raised my eyes. "I think I'd like to go back to my life now."

God stopped knitting and looked up. "Well then, there's only one thing left for you to see."

* * *

The shouting was what woke me up.

"THE TIMER SPED UP!"

Freed. I should've known.

"Freed, shut up," Laxus's voice growled. "You're going to hurt her ears. You've already hurt _my_ ears."

"Sorry, Laxus-sama," Freed said, downtrodden.

"Laxus, don't be mean to Freed," I muttered, sitting up and clutching my head. Now that I was back in the real world, it suddenly hurt a hell of a lot more.

"Ella-sama!" Freed yelled, and then I was tackled by several small bodies.

"Guys, I'm not even up yet!" I shouted, being shoved back into the mattress. From the outside of the fairy pile, someone squeezed my hand.

"I'm so glad you're awake, Onee-sama!" Juvia shouted.

"We were so worried!" Lucy said, her voice muffled from where her face was planted to my side.

"Guys, I'm alright, okay? Can I sit up, please?"

After some complaints and grumbling, the kids backed off enough for me to sit up. The other person's hand squeezed mine again, and I followed the arm to look up at Laxus.

I knew that hand felt familiar.

"Hey," I said softly to him.

"Hey," he said back, quietly.

Someone cleared their throat, and we all turned to look at Phoenix. "…Check up?" he said.

Laxus rolled his eyes, before getting up and shooing the kids. "Come on, guys, we can come visit when Phoenix is done."

Phoenix and Laxus locked eyes and Phoenix nodded, and Laxus led the kids out the door, meeting with Macbeth and Erik and closing it behind them.

"So how am I, Doc?" I joked, stretching. My gaze fell on something on my lap; a familiar knitted piece of gray clothing.

I smiled and put on the beanie.

Phoenix glared at me, his fingers tingling as he scanned me for injuries and clearing away my headache. "Grounded."

"You can't ground me," I said, lifting my eyebrows. But at least I was physically alright now.

"Yeah, but the rest of the guild is going to be clingy for a while. You'll probably have to go back to those guild-wide sleepovers, too."

"That doesn't mean I'm grounded," I told him.

"It does if I can make Laxus agree. Right, Laxus?"

Laxus opened the door. "You want her to be grounded, _you_ do it. I'm not her keeper."

"Oh, yes you are!" Freed said.

I snorted and then began to full-out laugh, until it was hard for me to breathe.

"Elle?" Laxus asked quietly.

"I'm alright," I told him, my eyes watering. "I'm just…really glad to be home."

"We're glad you're back, too!" Lucy shouted from outside, and the door burst open again, with a stampede of children running back in.

I was mobbed back into the bed, but I was fine with that.

It was good to be back.

* * *

 **^That's not a double meaning...is it? Pwish.**

 **I don't know what noise that's supposed to be.**

 **So I am alive. Obviously. Thank you for all of your wonderful comments and thoughts. They helped me when I was at my lowest and I've still saved some of the reviews I got to my email. :D**

 **So, news; this should be starting up again. I am back at Emerson College and Fairy Tail is supposed to return next month, so I am happy.**

 **I've also found myself screaming and crying while I was dragged back into the MCU so that's a thing. I've got a few draft/ideas saved up that are helping me return to Ripples, because it's a future Ripples spin-off/Marvel CROSSOVER. The idea is, on Tenrou, they don't survive and they can't return to the FT world with their memories intact, so they decide to go universe hopping. While there will be spoilers for MCU, there wouldn't be any for Ripples, because the people who will be on Tenrou is different in this fic in the future (these are just the people I want flung into another universe).**

 **If enough people are interested, I might post it online. Right now, I'm just outlining it, and it helps me redirect my muse back to the Fairy Tail universe. But those will definitely turn into chapters pretty soon. The question is if you want to read them.**


	109. Dragneels and Demons, Part One

**Chapter One Hundred and Nine - Dragneels and Demons, Part One**

Amber looked the same.

With the exception of her too-intelligent eyes, it was like I was back in my original world again.

"Are you okay?" Laxus asked, putting his hand on my shoulder.

I put my hand on top of it. "Yeah. I'm…yeah. I'll be okay."

His hand had a grounding presence, and it allowed me to have my arms open when Mari approached with the baby in her arms.

Amber's hair seemed to have too much of an orange tint compared to Mari and Gildarts's hair, but I figured it was probably something that was carried over.

"Hey, Amber," I cooed at her, cradling her in my arms. "I'm Elle, but you can call me Ellie."

I swallowed against the lump in my throat, remembering that Amber had always called me Ellie. Was this one of the reasons I had bonded so quickly with Lucy? The similarities?

A drop of water fell onto Amber's cheek, and I realized I was crying.

The baby frowned at me before reaching up, presumably to wipe away my tears (if Amber was as smart as I thought), but with her poor baby muscles she ended up poking me in the chin.

Well, she was either going to wipe away my tears or grab my hair, which she had also done a lot before.

I giggled at Amber and smiled, reaching up to wipe my tears away with my other hand.

"What have I missed?" I asked, looking up.

Laxus smiled down at me and his baby sister, and I was grateful that he didn't mention the tears (for now. He'd undoubtedly bring it up later). "Well, we're setting a specific part of the guild up for the kids. Freed is lining it with runes. After all, now we have Maxie, three babies/toddlers, and we've got Enno and Macao's kid coming up, too."

That's right, Romeo was due in February.

"That's probably a smart idea," I said, nodding. "Am I allowed to leave the infirmary bed?"

"Will you stay if I ask you to?" Laxus asked.

I scowled, but nodded.

"You can come downstairs," Laxus said. "But give me Amber."

I didn't want to let her go, but Laxus had a point, even if he didn't say it. It probably wasn't a good idea for me to be carrying a baby down the stairs, even if Phoenix _did_ say that I was healthy.

"Hey, Big Sis, you're up!" Bickslow greeted me at the bottom of the stairs. His eyes were glowing.

"Bickslow?" I asked. "What's up? Are you using your Eyes right now? Is everything alright?"

He grinned at me. "Everything is _juuuuuuuuuuust fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine._ "

"Nothing to see here, Elle!" Papa piped up.

I glared at him. "You're acting suspicious."

" _Juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine_ ," Bickslow repeated, the dopey grin on his face, before turning and floating away, his puppets following him and laughing.

"…okay, then. That's not weird at all," I said.

Laxus snorted next to me. "Yeah, he's been acting weird for the past two days."

"Any idea what caused it?"

Laxus shrugged. "We wanted to know more about what happened when you were out, so Bickslow was going to try and focus on your soul. Then he just…left. He's been like this since then."

I sighed. Another thing to add to my list.

Speaking of things I needed to do…

I caught sight of Mavis and Zeref out of the corner of my eye and sighed, again.

Not a discussion I wanted to have any time soon, but one I had to have sooner rather than later.

I needed to talk to Zeref about his kids.

* * *

While Laxus took Amber to play with Ash and Violet, I met up with Mavis and Zeref in one of the storage rooms.

"What is it, Elle?" Zeref asked curiously.

I took a deep breath. "We need to talk."

"That's why we're here, isn't it?" Mavis asked curiously. I absentmindedly noticed that she was floating, as per usual. In fact, I think the only time I've ever _seen_ her walk was on water. Hmm.

 _Focus, Elle_ , I told myself.

"Yeah," I said. "You guys might want to sit down."

The two exchanged a look and sat down on the boxes across from the one I was sitting on.

I took a deep breath. "First, Zeref. Have you done anything about Tartaros or Grimoire Heart?"

Zeref nodded. "Yeah. I might've also dropped some clues on the keys to 'freeing' me to Precht. All of the keys he knew of were bullshit anyway, and this way he shouldn't go around slaughtering all of those villages."

 _Oh thank everything_ , I thought to myself.

I had mostly forgotten about that when we returned from Ivan. I had mentioned reigning in the dark guilds to Zeref at some point, but had mostly forgotten about it.

"What's he doing instead?" I asked Zeref.

"Traveling," Zeref said, shrugging. "I've basically sent him on a treasure hunt, or a wild goose chase. We shouldn't be bothered by them for awhile."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, and about Tartaros?"

He made a bit of a face. "They shouldn't be bothering us too much, I talked to Mard. He should be roping in the others more."

"You realize they're practically your children," I told him.

He sighed. "I know."

I took a deep breath…again. "Speaking of children…we need to talk about Larcade."

Zeref kinda froze up. "…What about him?"

"He doesn't realize he's an Etherious, moron," I told him. "He thinks he's your biological son, and that _you're_ the world's most absent father."

"Zeref!" Mavis cried.

"And then there's August," I continued.

"What about August?" Zeref asked, confused.

"Elle, am I here for any other reason than to berate Zeref?" Mavis asked.

I nodded before looking at the dark wizard. "There's magic that allows for de-aging, right?"

He nodded, looking wary. "Why?"

"Can it be permanent?" I asked him.

"If I need it to be," he said. "Though there could be memory problems…"

I looked at him. "We're going to pick up August and Larcade, de-age them, and the two of you are going to raise them as your children."

They both looked at me, before:

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?"

* * *

It took over _three hours_ to talk Mavis and Zeref down, and even then, we had to discuss my plans.

They were not happy. Mavis was even less happy because Zeref had left a few things out about his history.

Unfortunately, I realized that I've kinda been depending on Erik too much for communication issues. When someone is having the wrong idea about something, or not communicating, Erik tells me, and we fix it. (Well, I fix it. Erik is too much of a chicken to deal with feelings after his bad encounter with Erigor over Macbeth).

But Erik can't read my mind, or Mavis or Zeref's. And we usually just let the two ghosts do whatever, with the exception of certain events and times.

Except a large part of the Alvarez arc is literally just the two of them being morons, so we should probably stop doing that so much.

Mavis and Zeref did not easily accept August's existence. Then again, I don't blame them. It's a bit hard to swallow that there's a kid out there that was magically produced but is still biologically yours. Mavis especially didn't take it well, since she's been asleep for such a long time, and Zeref had instead been next to August all along as he grew up.

"To be fair," I told Zeref. "August _does_ see you as a caring father. And you also named him, remember? After the month you found him in?"

"YOU NAMED OUR SON AFTER A MONTH? REALLY?" Mavis shrieked.

"I didn't know he was our son!" Zeref protested.

"Oh, so what would you have named him instead?" Mavis shouted, putting her hands on her hips. "I know the names of your demons, Zeref! You _aren't._ Good. At naming things! 'August' was probably one of the most reasonable things you could've named him."

I let them bicker while I organized my thoughts.

To tell you the truth, I really expected August to kill Natsu at some point in the manga. Not just because (like Larcade) he's jealous of the amount of attention Natsu gets from their father, but also because of their names.

The connection is simple.

'Natsu' is Japanese for summer.

August is the E.N.D. of summer.

"At least 'August' is one of the best month-related names for a male child," I said.

"It's the _only_ month-related name for a male child," Mavis deadpanned.

"Actually, the months July and August were added to the calendar because of Julius and Augustus Caesar, two emperors of Rome. Don't know if you have that history-wise, here…"

"Augustus," Mavis muttered. "We can make that work."

"We can't call him 'Augustus'!" Zeref protested. "I've been calling him 'August' forever!"

"It's just going to be his full name," Mavis argued. "You can't tell people you named him 'August'. But you can tell people you named him 'Augustus' and that he likes to _go_ by August."

I left them bickering about names and went back out into the guild hall.

I didn't really know what to do now.

Well, as I told Zeref, we'd probably pick up August and Larcade.

But I was wondering about Irene.

Especially with _Erza…_

I looked out over the guild hall.

The rest of the Tower group and the Oracion Seis group were spending time together (probably because some of them would be leaving soon) and I sent a message to Erik.

 _Hey, Erik, can you send Jellal over here?_

His head turned to look at me, and he looked confused, but he shrugged before turning and poking Jellal in the shoulder.

I couldn't hear what he said, but pretty soon Jellal was up and walking across the guild to meet me.

"What's going on, Elle?" he asked me, worriedly.

"So many things," I muttered. " _So_ many things."

He waited patiently.

God, sometimes I love this kid.

I sighed. "Listen, Jellal, has Erza ever mentioned wanting to know her parents? Anything like that?"

His eyes narrowed. "No, but I also never asked. As far as Erza knows, she was abandoned."

I nodded. "Her mother is still alive, and I know where she is. I've been wondering if I should bring her to the guild. Her mom is kinda volatile, too…"

"Would she even join the guild willingly, then?" Jellal asked.

I nodded. Irene technically owed Zeref a debt. If he told her to come join Fairy Tail and get to know her daughter, she'd do it.

See, before I woke up, God let me read the rest of the manga.

It was a bit of a wallop, I'll admit.

And while what I was doing now covered two major points of what I learned (Zeref's kids and Irene) there was a third thing that was bothering me.

Anna.

Anna Heartfilia didn't exit the Eclipse Gate, and that's not right. She should be here.

But she's not and it's _weird_.

But we'll be visiting Mercurius in early December anyway, for Koku's birthday, so I'd talk to Toma about Anna then. But the fact that she was not here was bothering me; because whether or not she showed up in this time shouldn't depend on me at all. My entrance to this universe should have no influence on that.

Another thing; Laxus's birthday was soon, and I didn't have a song picked out. At all.

The only songs I could think of right now seemed WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too embarrassing to sing.

So that was a thing.

I'd ask some of the other kids for help, but knowing Freed it would spiral out of control.

So maybe it'd just be better to do it on my own.

* * *

 **…..yeah, I'm probably not going to do this on my own. Recommendations for the song would be nice? I have some that could work, but I'd prefer to use something better.**

 **Also, the Ripples/Avenger crossover is a GO! A lot more people wanted to read it than I expected, which makes me very very happy. :). Before I post it online, DOES ANYONE HAVE NAME SUGGESTIONS? It's pretty nameless currently, and I'm not going to post it until I have a title. If I get multiple really good suggestions, I'll post them in the next chapter and you can vote. For now though, suggestions for either the song or the spinoff title would be nice (or both. Both would be amazing!) :)**


	110. Dragneels and Demons, Part Two

**Announcements** **: TSUNAMI (the Marvel/Ripples spin-off crossover) is up, with a few chapters already. I'd appreciate you guys giving it a look-sie.**

 **ALSO: I am having a very hard time scraping up money for next semester of college. If some of you guys could give just a little bit (like honestly, even a penny, there's a reason I pick up change off the ground) that would be amazing and appreciated in every way shape and form. You can find it through my tumblr, in which my username is the-real-narnia (just add the dot_tumblr_dot_com and you're good to go).**

 **(I know most of you guys won't donate and I don't blame you because I can't do it for others and I usually have to skip these messages).**

 **But I'm asking anyway because I finally decided to screw my pride and ask for help. A reoccurring theme in both Ripples and Tsunami is about accepting people who offer help or asking for help themselves. It's okay to ask for help. I learned that the hard way, which is why I'm accepting this so easily now.**

 **Sorry for the long AN. Here's the next chapter: Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter One Hundred and Ten – Dragneels and Demons, Part Two**

So, funny story.

I got confused about August's name, as I learned while Zeref tried to placate Mavis by telling her that _yes_ he found August in _August_ , but he really named him that because the kid reminded him of _her_ and that was the month they spent most of their time together.

She was a bit happier after that.

As for the rest of the guild; they just wanted to understand what was going on.

I told them not to worry.

They would.

…When we got back.

* * *

We left for Alvarez two days later.

'We' meaning Zeref and I.

"I still think this is a bad idea," Zeref muttered.

"I still think you're a coward," I said, glaring at him. "You're a father, _deal with it_. You're over four fucking hundred."

" _Fine_ ," Zeref muttered, sullen.

I sighed. Honestly, I wondered how Zeref and Mavis managed to make everything work. They were a _mess_.

But they were still and love, and still together, and I guess that makes it all the more impressive.

"Stop being a baby," I told him.

"I'm not being a baby," he said. "No, we're just kidnapping my minions and turning _them_ into babies."

"They're your children and you need to raise them properly if you don't want to cause an apocalypse."

"You know, half the time I don't know whether or not I should believe the shit you say," he said.

I shrugged. "Your kids do some _dangerous_ things. I don't even want to talk about it."

"Because it doesn't exist?"

"Because it's _traumatic_ ," I hissed at him. "I'm sorry I don't like remembering how everything went wrong. We have a chance to save things, to _stop_ it from happening, and I'm taking that damn chance!"

I stomped off ahead of Zeref, more than a little upset.

I haven't been up long from the coma, but I still wasn't exactly in the best mood, considering all of the things that I learned.

Right now, I just really wanted to kidnap three people, go home, and climb into Laxus's arms.

Is that so hard to ask?

"Elle…" Zeref drawled out my name behind me, apologetic.

"I know," I snapped, before letting out another breath. "I know," I sighed. "Sorry."

"It's not your fault," Zeref said quietly. "You're not wrong. I've spent almost the last decade wallowing in misery and self-pity, and we both know I would've continued to do that until…"

"Something triggered your crazy side?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said. "That. And while I did help with Hades and Grimoire Heart, Alvarez and Tartaros were my problem too. And I should've helped take care of that. Or at least brought it up."

"For now, it's enough," I said softly. "We're fixing it, alright? Come on."

I gave him a smile and he took my hand, dragging me around the castle.

It was cool, but I wasn't paying it _too_ much attention.

"You realize you made Natsu royalty twice over, right?" I asked Zeref.

"How so?" he asked, as he led me down the empty halls.

"Well, by giving him to Igneel to raise, he became the son of the 'Fire Dragon King', which means that Natsu is the heir to a Fire Dragon Kingdom, if that's a thing. But then you also went and made a country. And made yourself emperor."

"I thought Lucy was the one who was supposed to be royalty," Zeref pointed out.

"You're an idiot, Zeref," I muttered.

"Quite possibly," he said, moving forward, before halting and throwing a hand out in front of me to stop me in my tracks.

The room was still as we waited.

Zeref sensed something I did not.

Apparently, it was his son.

"August?" he asked.

There was silence.

Zeref stepped forward. "August. I know you're here."

There was more silence.

Then, slowly (silently) the old man stepped out of the shadows.

"August," Zeref said.

August stared at Zeref. "You are different."

"Yes," Zeref admitted.

"Why?" August pressed.

"He's not here physically," I said, moving forward. "Zeref's real body is asleep, in a lacrima."

"Why would you do that to yourself?" he asked Zeref.

"I-"

"He can be with Mavis this way," I interrupted Zeref. "And we've got plans, August. Will you come with us?"

He still stared at us (mostly Zeref) before he nodded.

I smiled, and we moved forward.

* * *

"Larcade, do you want to come join a guild with your dad?" I asked, jerking a thumb over my shoulder at Zeref.

He nodded like a puppy.

* * *

Larcade might have followed us even more easily than August did…

But Irene did not.

"I gave her up for a reason!" Irene hissed. "And I'm not fit to be a mother."

Well, I wasn't necessarily going to argue on that.

But there was something else that had to be said.

"Irene," I said, looking at her. "We could give you a second chance."

"How?" she scoffed.

"We're going to shrink August and Larcade down to children, so Mavis and Zeref can raise them properly. While we can save their memories, they'll still end up forgetting time. So if you want, we could de-age you to before you became pregnant. We can make you forget. And we're not asking you to be Erza's mother. We're asking you to come and join the guild. And spend time with Erza. You can be like an older sister to her. Or something."

She stared at me, her jaw still clenched.

"Fine," she hissed.

And that was that.

It was a lot more simple than we thought it was going to be.

* * *

We waited in the basement of the guild.

Larcade and August wanted to grow at a faster rate until they hit a mature age. Doing the arithmetic with Zeref (I thought I had escaped Math, but apparently not), we found a way for them to grow at the rate of 1.5. (So for every two years, they aged three instead).

They'd be around ten in X784 (the regular timeline) and twenty in X791 (the post-Tenrou arc timeline). For them, seven years was actually ten.

They actually wanted to remember, so we spent a few hours transferring their memories onto Memory Cards. When they got older, they'd be able to review their older memories.

Irene didn't want to remember.

She only wanted to forget.

"You realize if we de-age you this far back, you'll lose control over your dragon powers?" I asked her. "You won't even have them."

"I know," she defended. "And I don't care. It'll be worth it to be able to feel again."

I stared at her. "Okay, but you need to write a letter to yourself."

"Why?" she asked.

"From your experience, you're going to be waking up 400 years in the future, without any dragons and no longer royalty; or royalty with a kingdom, anyway. Your fiancé is gone and you also have a child he didn't want. Write your past self a note, Irene, or it'll come as a huge shock when she wakes up."

Irene glared. "Fine."

Fucking hell, she's like a surly teenager. An arrogant, ridiculously powerful teenager.

I sighed and turned back to the group of four.

August was side-eyeing me. "This is likely a bad idea."

I shrugged. "Probably. But it'll still go better than it probably would if we _didn't_ do it."

He turned to look at his parents. "They are still children."

"Yeah," I agreed. "But they're not alone. This guild is a family; they're not the only ones who will be raising you, August."

He met my eyes and slowly nodded.

"If you think it's a bad idea, why are you going to do it?" I asked him.

He looked at Mavis and Zeref longingly. "They may be children, but they are still my parents. And I…"

He didn't finish the sentence, but I could guess easily enough that it had to do with the fact that he was in his sixties or so. And they were immortal. And he never really had a childhood in the first place.

Yeah, I don't blame him for his choice.

"We're going to start setting up," Zeref said, coming up beside me. August left my other side and went over to his mother and soon-to-be brother. "We're going to be using the runes Freed put down to redirect some of the Lumen Histoire's power to charge up the spell. You should give the guild a heads up."

I nodded. We were actually using the Lumen Histoire to power everything in the guild (what? It saves money from bills), so the lights might go out depending on how much power needs to be diverted to the spell and how strong Freed's runes are. Currently, it's set up like a damn (a rushing damn, but still). Magic flows from a smaller sized opening, instead of letting it flood and rush all of us. Yeah, we can make it bigger, but it's probably not a good idea.

Unless there's an emergency. Then we should do it.

I headed upstairs as Larcade and August were giving Mavis and Zeref some heads up over things the liked. Irene was busy writing out a letter to her future/past self…to the new version of her past self…whatever.

I peeked my head in and caught Makarov's eye, moving over to him.

"We're going to be diverting power for the spell we're doing," I told him.

He sighed. "Are you going to tell me what you're doing?"

I blinked. "I didn't already tell you? Sorry. We're turning Zeref and Mavis's kids back into children. Well, babies."

He sighed. "If you didn't want to tell me, you could've said that instead."

I opened my mouth before shaking my head. He'd learn…eventually.

"Anyway, I thought I'd sit you guys down for a movie to watch while we do it," I said, handing him the Memory Card.

He sighed, before climbing up on the table. "LISTEN UP, YOU BRATS!"

The guild quieted. He looked at me.

"The power is probably going to go out for a bit so I've got a movie for you guys, alright?" I shouted.

There were some cheers, (mostly from the kids) and they ran for the training room, where we'd usually lay down on mats and watch together. I turned out the light for them (though it was still light outside so it wasn't too dark) and started up The Princess Bride for them from the card.

I went back into the basement and nodded to Zeref and Mavis. "We're ready to go."

"Alright," Zeref said. "We'll do Irene first."

"What?" Irene asked. "Why?"

"Because I'm not holding two babies while they de-age you," I said.

I turned and left the room they were casting in, and Larcade and August followed me.

They both waited impatiently.

"Are you excited?" I asked.

Larcade nodded, still bouncing, too excited for words right now.

I looked at the older one. "August?" I asked. "What about you?"

"Whatever I feel now will not exist in a few moments," he said, staring back at the door with an odd sort of wistful longing and dread.

I didn't know how to respond to that.

So instead I just stayed quiet and waited for Mavis and Zeref to finish the spell.

After the awkward moment was done, Larcade and August went to get de-aged, and I waited outside as Irene switched with them.

It took me several minutes to finally get her calmed down, before making sure she read the letter.

Finally, after she had staved off a panic attack (or what I think was about to be a panic attack, it's hard to tell with royalty), I managed to get her to sit down.

"I…I don't understand," she cried.

"Okay," I said, holding her hands. She was younger than I thought; probably twenty two at most. "Listen, I'm gonna explain what happened to you. But you gotta breathe for me, okay?"

With a gulp of air, she nodded one more time.

"Did you read the note?" I asked her.

She nodded.

"Okay, well, it's true."

"Wha-What?" she gasped, unable to breathe.

"It's true," I repeated. "The version of you that wrote the letter didn't let me read it, so let me go over some things, okay?"

She nodded urgently.

 _Don't nod your head off, jeez._

"Okay, so you ended up accepting a gift of Dragon Magic," I explained. "And it ends up turning you into a dragon, which is a side effect. You ended up being shunned by most of your people. And were frozen in dragon form for four hundred years. Zeref, the boy in there with dark hair, managed to turn you back human, and you gave birth to a baby girl. Her name is Erza, and she's also here."

"How old is she?" Irene asked.

"Twelve," I answered.

A shudder ran through her body, and I realized it was shame. "I can't _believe_ …" she trailed off and took a deep breath, before saying, "I don't think I like the person I became."

"Maybe not," I admitted. "Maybe she wasn't a good person. But she's giving you a chance; she allowed you to start over, and to become someone you'd be proud of."

Irene bit her lip but nodded worriedly.

"I'm not going to say that Erza doesn't need a mother," I said. "Because I don't think you're ever too old to need a mother. But even if you don't become one for her that way, you can never have too many people as your family. So you can still be a part of hers."

"Thanks," she whispered.

Mavis and Zeref left the room, each one carrying a small child.

"You're good, Mavis?" I asked her.

She nodded. "We've been working on it. Zeref fixed my tangibility! Now I'm can touch things!"

"That's great," I said, smiling.

"Are you sure you wouldn't like any help?" Irene asked, looking at them and at the babies.

Mavis opened her mouth, but cut it off with a look from Zeref.

"Sure, we can take some help," Zeref said, nodding, and Irene followed the pair and their kids to the nursery section.

I left them and headed back to the training room, where the kids were watching the movie with awe.

I silently slipped in and sat next to Laxus.

"Hey," I said to him.

"Hey," he said back, smiling as I leaned into him. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," I murmured.

"Yes, you do," Laxus said. "Amber. I'm talking about how you reacted to Amber. Are you alright?"

"I don't want to talk about it," I said, tightening into his side and hiding my face into his chest.

"You can't keep putting it off," he said with an exasperated sigh.

I didn't answer, and we continued staring at the screen.

"Just..." I whispered. "Just let it go. For now, okay?"

He was quiet as we watched for a little longer.

"As you wish," he finally said, and that was that.


	111. Children, Birthdays & Children Birthdays

***on the second night of Chanukah, the-real-narnia gave to me:**

 **some cuteness and some singing...***

 **Yep, I'm doing this again^**

 **Also, OMG you guys are adorable about the Princess Bride.**

 **The song, for those interested, is called Someone to You by BANNERS, and it's linked on every website that lets me...(which is literally all except Fanfiction).**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter One Hundred and Eleven - Children and Birthdays and Children's Birthdays**

"So you weren't…" Makarov trailed off.

"Lying?" I asked him, an eyebrow raised. "No."

Mavis and Zeref were currently showing off their new children to the rest of the guild, and in particular, the other babies.

It wasn't too hard to tell the two apart; August had neat, combed-back hair (like Zeref), and Larcade just had a bunch of spikes (like Natsu).

Speaking of Natsu, Zeref _still hasn't talked to him_.

But Natsu likes kids.

And Zeref now has kids.

So he wouldn't be able to stay out of this one.

I left the group of children and babysitters and approached Irene, who was standing next to the bar. Enno had given her a change of clothes that was much more modest than the one before, and she seemed a lot more comfortable now.

And she was staring at Erza.

"Are you going to talk to her sometime today?" I asked her.

"Do I have to?" she asked me.

I shrugged. "Probably. I personally think you should get it over with."

Irene nodded. "I will. Soon."

And speaking of getting things over with…it was time to stop being a hypocrite. I had my own child I needed to talk to.

I went up to Mari, who was sitting on the edge of the group piled around the children and their new play area Freed and Levy designed.

"Can I spend some time with Amber?" I asked Mari.

She nodded and smiled, reaching down and pulling Amber out of the pile. Violet, who was closest to Amber, made an odd grumbling sound as her friend was pulled out of her reach.

"I'll give her back soon," I told Violet as Mari handed Amber to me. "I just want to spend some time alone with her."

I propped Amber on my hip and carried her back to the storage room for some privacy, where I settled down on a crate and sat her on my lap.

She looked up at me and smiled.

I swallowed the lump in my throat.

"Hey, Amber," I said quietly. "Do you recognize me?"

She looked me in the eyes, and nodded.

"I missed you," I told her, my eyes breaking out into tears. "God, I missed you so much. I wasn't able to properly remember you for awhile. But God, did I miss you."

I'm glad she remembered me. I thought she would, but I didn't know how much she would remember; God had blocked out my traumatizing memories, so there was a chance Amber wouldn't have known who I was.

She moved up my legs and leant her head on my chest. I ran my fingers through her hair, like I used to.

"You're going to like it here so much," I whispered to her. "I promise."

* * *

Erza and Irene were finally talking when I returned Amber to her mother. Irene had apologized for the Other-her's actions, and Erza had suggested they start over, though not with Irene as a mother figure, because she wasn't ready for that. Irene agreed that she wasn't ready for that either, and then they both started bonding over sword fighting techniques, so…? Who the hell knows.

Zeref was still (somewhat) successfully staying away from Natsu, while Mavis continually invited Natsu to come join them and their kids. Apparently I wasn't the only one frustrated with their stupidity (not that Natsu knew anything was happening anyway).

Yep. Just kidnapping children and reacquainting them with the rest of the family. All in a days work.

* * *

"Are you nervous?" Lucy asked.

I glared at her, and she giggled.

"What?" I asked.

"You're just upset because you don't like this song as much," Lucy said.

"It's not that I don't like the song, it's that I'm not sure it fits perfectly. Especially now that I've become a bigger part of the guild."

"He'll still get it," Lucy said, hopping down and hugging me. "I know you'll do fine, Ellie-nee. Good luck."

I smiled back at her and hugged her. "Alright. Thanks, sweetie. Go sit down."

She disappeared and I took a deep breath, getting ready for them to start up the music.

"I'm ready," I told them.

Freed nodded, happy to do this. Erigor smiled behind him.

This was music I wouldn't be able to do myself, so Freed and Erigor were here for music and sound effects.

The curtains opened, the light was on me, and the music began to play.

I let it fill me, before taking a deep breath and letting it out.

" _I…don't want to die, or fade awaaaaaaaaay…"_ I started. " _I just wanna be someone. I just wanna be someone."_

 _"Diiive and dis-appear without a traaaaaaaaaaaaace. I just wanna be someone. Well doesn't…everyone…?"_

 _"And if you feeeel…the great di-viding…_

 _I wanna bee…the one you're gui-ding…_

 _'Cause I believe….that you could le-ad the waaaaaay."_

My hands were clenching the mic tightly as I reached the pre-chorus.

" _I just wanna be somebody to someone, oh,_

 _I wanna be somebody to someone, oh_

 _I never had no-body and no road home,_

 _I wanna be some-body to someone!_

 _And if the sun's up-set and the sky grows cold-_

 _Then if the clouds get he-avy and start to fall_

 _I really need somebody to call my own,_

 _I wanna be somebody to someone._ "

And now I finally looked up and met Laxus's eyes.

" _Someone to yoooooooo-uuuuuu_

 _Someone to yoooooooo-uuuuuu_

 _Someone to yoooooooo-uuuuuu_

 _Someone to you."_

By now I had started relaxing into the song.

" _I…don't ev-en need…to change the worllllllllld._

 _I'll make the moon shine just for your view…_

 _I'll make the starlight circle the room…."_

At these words, I started using my magic to create special effects. An illusion of the full moon appeared behind me, and I sent small bursts of Venus around the room, before vanishing it and darkening the room for the next line.

" _And if you feeeeel….like night is fall-ing_

 _I wanna be…the one you're call-ing…_

 _'Cause I believe….that you could le-ad the waaaaaay."_

" _I just wanna be somebody to someone, oh,_

 _I wanna be somebody to someone, oh_

 _I never had no-body and no road home,_

 _I wanna be some-body to someone!"_

This time when I hit the pre-chorus, I started with the special effects.

 _"And if the sun's up-set and the sky grows cold-_

 _Then if the clouds get he-avy and start to fall_

 _I really need somebody to call my own,_

 _I wanna be somebody to someone._ "

This time, I left the stage, and with each line, took a step closer to Laxus.

"" _Someone to yoooooooo-uuuuuu_

 _Someone to yoooooooo-uuuuuu_

 _Someone to yoooooooo-uuuuuu_

 _Someone to you…"_

The music stopped, and I stood right in front of Laxus.

It wasn't the whole song, but it got the message across.

Laxus pulled me into his lap and kissed me. "You _are_ somebody to me," he whispered.

Among the whoops and cheering, I heard a noise that distinctly sounded like a body hitting the floor.

Oh, Freed.

* * *

It was the beginning of December, and with it, came Koku's first birthday celebration. We all filed out to the palace for the princess's first birthday, and Hisui was probably the most excited over everything, dragging me around by my hand to show me all the decorations she helped pick out for her sister.

I finally managed to get a minute alone with Toma, and asked him if he knew anything about someone else coming out of the gate. Or about Anna Heartfilia.

He said that as far as he knew, no one else was involved, and Anna Heartfilia had died in the X300s. I have _absolutely no idea_ what this means and it's driving me nuts.

For now, I put it out of my mind to help with Koku's party. Hopefully I'd be able to deal with it later.

* * *

I can't believe that _this_ is the shit I have to deal with.

"…What. The Fuck," I bluntly stated.

The boys all averted their eyes.

Behind me, Laxus and Macbeth were staring and Erik and Erigor were cackling.

I looked at the boys in front of me. Gray, Lyon, Jellal and Simon were slightly shameful. Natsu, Gajeel, Freed and Bickslow looked defiant, completely standing for their actions.

"Seriously," I stated. "…the fuck?"

"It was Freed's idea," Bickslow said.

Freed crossed his arms. The rest of the kids turned their lightsabers off.

Except Natsu. He kept trying to eat his.

"It's completely safe," Freed told me.

"It's a lightsaber," I deadpanned. "It can cut off hands."

"We made sure it couldn't do that!" Jellal protested, speaking up. "It's just like…really hot swords!"

"Swords can cut off hands, Jellal," I deadpanned. Erik's laughter got louder. Erigor was wheezing.

"I put a safety rune on them," Freed sniffed. "You can't _really_ cut off hands. And the lightsabers aren't too hot, either. Yeah, it'd hurt if you were hit with them, but more like a baton hitting you! A…really hard baton."

"At least we didn't involve the younger kids," Gray pointed out.

"That was because we thought Sting would try to eat one," Simon said.

"Like Natsu is?" I asked.

Their head swiveled to look at Natsu.

Jellal facepalmed.

He probably got that from me.

"Natsu, if you don't stop, I'll tell Lucy."

The boys simultaneous shivered in fear and Natsu shoved his lightsaber at someone else.

Gajeel, who was the nearest, caught it by the beam, and I flinched, expecting it to cut into him.

"Perfectly fine, Lynx," he said soothingly (for Gajeel, anyway). "My hand's still here, see?"

"Now, if you involved Macbeth, he could've made an illusion that he cut his hand off!" Erigor suggested, before cracking up even more. Erik's body was shaking silently now.

"You wouldn't do that, would you Macbeth?" I asked him.

"Depends," he said, shrugging.

"THAT WAS NOT THE ANSWER I WAS LOOKING FOR!"

"At least he didn't lie," Kinana pointed out from behind Erik's body, which was turning a redder color from the lack of air.

"Make your boyfriend breathe," I told her. Which caused her to flush and hit Erik, but too softly.

Laxus rolled his eyes and slapped Erik on the back so he could breathe.

"Laxus!" I said to him. "You're cheating on me with Erik!?"

He rolled his eyes and grabbed my hands. "Why would I want him, when I have you? Well..." he smirked at Erik. "Why would I want him anyway?"

"Hey!" Erik gasped from the ground. "Fuck you, Laxus!"

"I can't believe these people are in charge of us," Simon sighed.

"This was a bad idea, and I hate you all," Jellal muttered.

* * *

After the end of the Lightsaber incident, which we do not speak of, we neared the midway point of December. I still had yet to do 'the Talk' which I was slightly dreading considering it included Natsu. And Gajeel. And Juvia.

So I was saving that for a rainy day. But for now, the craze had come back around; the S Class craze.

Gajeel was happy to know that he was old enough to be nominated, but he also seemed to acknowledge that he probably wouldn't be nominated this year.

Laxus seemed determined that this was the year we (yes, _we_ ) were going to win. While I wasn't too sure on that, I _was_ looking forward to this year's trials, whether we were both nominated or not.

Though something tells me that it would probably be both. I caught Makarov staring at the board the other day and looking like he was having trouble doing math in his head. Especially since more and more of us were turning twelve or older each year, and we were all starting to get pretty powerful.

Yeah, something tells me that this years S Class trials might be a bit different than normal.

* * *

 **Alright, we've got S-Class trials coming up. Hooray! (And also the Talk I know you're all impatient for that).**


	112. The Talk, Part Three

**Thanks to doraemax for being awesome and enthusiastic over this story!**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter One Hundred and Twelve - The Talk, Part Three**

I looked at the resulting chaos and sighed.

Yep. Probably should have seen this coming.

Here was the biggest problem.

The people I gave the Talk to (this year) were Natsu, Lucy, Brandish, Levy, Juvia, Max, Sho, and Laki, Kinana and Gajeel (because even though the last ones were older than ten, they weren't here the year before (or were busy being a snake)).

I already knew it would go horribly wrong, because 1) Natsu was there, 2) Juvia was there and 3) Levy was there.

Natsu and Juvia were kind of obvious problems. But I expected problems from Levy, probably because she's a lot like Freed when it comes to being studious, and I was right.

Levy asked questions that I wasn't prepared to answer.

Because again…I am a virgin. Even when I died.

So when she asked me if I had sex, and I told her _no,_ things started to degrade.

She left the room (even though I locked it with runes) and returned much, much later, with Gildarts and Mari…and just about the rest of the guild tagging along.

She marched the couple up next to me and returned to the line of children, before demanding from them; "Tell us about sex."

The couple and the rest of the guild choked, and Gildarts turned his eyes to me desperately. "I thought Elle was doing that!"

"She hasn't had sex, it doesn't count," Levy informed him.

"Of course she hasn't had sex, she's fourteen," Ur pointed out.

"She means in my previous life, before I died," I told her.

"Wait, you _died_?" Gildarts asked, shocked.

"Didn't we already have this conversation?" I muttered.

Erigor and Erik, as per usual, were too busy trying to stop themselves from suffocating from laughter.

"Actually, now that you mention it, I'm kinda interested in what Elle has been teaching them," Mari pointed out, because she wasn't here when I started.

The rest of the guild shifted to look at me, and I sighed.

"Alright, here we go."

Jesus.

Am I embarrassed telling kids about the Talk? No.

Am I embarrassed telling the entirety of the guild my knowledge before I died a virgin?

…Eh.

Well played, Levy. Well played.

* * *

Three hours later, the only one who wasn't embarrassed was Ur.

Because she's made of fucking stone.

Most of the other people have left by then, most kids having a basic understanding and not wanting any more information. The adults had quickly left, with the except of Ur and Mari, and all of the kids who already had the Talk made the youngest kids leave.

When we finally released this batch of kids, Juvia had run off screaming (and then ran off in the other direction when she saw Gray without a shirt), Lucy was almost the color of Erza's hair and was still getting darker, and Brandish, who was still (somewhat) calm, led Lucy to a peaceful place whispering about a sleepover. Sho and Max both seemed extremely icked out, and also ran off as soon as possible.

Which left Levy, Laki, Natsu, Kinana, and Gajeel.

Gajeel, before he left, told me that he'd need to call a meeting with the other dragon slayers eventually, because puberty was a bit different for them, and that Kinana and I should probably be there.

That did it for Kinana, and she finally ran off. Erik, who was waiting outside, went after her to try and calm her, and _then_ she was screaming. He eventually wandered back over to everyone else and punched Gajeel for scaring her away.

So. Dragon Puberty. That sounds just…great...

But anyway, this left Levy, Laki, and Natsu.

Laki, specifically, was still there because someone had mentioned foreplay, and wanted to know more about it.

Enno lead her off for a private conversation with a wicked smirk, which scared me because it told me a lot more about Enno than I would've thought.

I'm pretty sure it scared Wakaba too, because he wouldn't stop staring at Macao.

Levy mostly wanted to know more on the scientific process of it all. (Which we were working on. I promised her that I'd try and find her books on it for Christmas, or at the very least, I'd find stuff for her on her birthday.

"But that's half a year away!" she had protested.

I had rolled my eyes. "It's not like you're having sex before then."

And so Levy will wait.)

Natsu was just clueless. None of it made sense to him.

At all.

I sighed. There was still the dragon version of the Talk coming up. And if that didn't work…I'd try telling Natsu more next year, see if it sinks in any more.

* * *

A few hours later, the guild hall was still only about a third or a quarter of it's usual size. Too many kids (and even adults) were still hiding, and I ended up joining Laxus, Erik and Jellal at a table.

Laxus had left as soon as he realized I'd be talking more about s-e-x but he was still blushing as I curled up next to him.

"Tsundere," I muttered, hitting his arm.

"I am not," he said completely unconvincingly, his blush deepening.

Erik groaned across the table. "I miss Kinana."

Jellal patted the older boy's shoulder. "Erza's trying to find her. Everything will go back to normal in a few days."

Oh yeah. I still had to tell Erik about the _D_ _ragon_ Talk thing…you know, we'll just do it next year. December is halfway over, already. It's not like anything is going to happen in the next few weeks. Right?

…Something's probably going to happen, isn't it?

I just jinxed it.

...Which means I should probably do the Dragon Talk thing soon, but...

Eh.

"It just feels weird without her," Erik muttered. "And…"

He trailed off, his head perking up and his ear twitching.

Laxus snorted. "What, you're a dog now instead of a dragon?" he gestured to Erik's ears and his tilted head.

Erik blushed and stood up. "Shut up. It was nothing."

He left the table, and I sighed. "I'll go after him." I nudged Laxus. "And you know not to tease your teammates when they're like this."

"I thought that was only if it'll end up in a fight?" Laxus replied.

"To be fair," I heard Jellal say as I walked away. "If one of us is in a funk, teasing us won't bring us out of it. You should probably just let him sulk in the future."

I followed Erik into the training room, where he was staring at the timeline chart, which was still empty of a few newer members who I would be adding in a few hours (before Makarov revealed the S Class candidates tonight, which people would hopefully come out of hiding for).

"Hey," I said, walking up next to him.

"Hey," he muttered.

I nudged his shoulder. "Come on, I think you know that everything will go back to normal soon."

"I know, I-" he paused, his ears twitching again.

"Erik? What is it?" I asked him.

"I swear, I keep hearing weird voices," Erik muttered, scratching his head.

"You always hear voices," I told him.

He shot me a look. "The voices sound _crazy_."

"That's generally what _happens_ when you hear voices," I pointed out.

He threw up his arms. "That's not what I mean. It's just-" he froze. "There!" and took off running.

I sighed and followed him.

* * *

"What the _hell_ is wrong with you?"

I walked outside of the training room, which was deserted sans Bickslow and Erik, who was shaking the Seith Mage by the shoulders.

"Erik, what the hell?" I asked, running up to them.

Bickslow's eyes were glowing, and he looked down at me and giggled.

I blinked at him, shocked. "What the hell's up with Bickslow?"

Beside the fact that it was December and he was standing outside like the cold didn't bother him.

"He's high," Papa popped in, the four puppets zooming in out of nowhere.

"He's _what_?" I hissed, turning to look at Bickslow and putting my hands on my hips.

"He's on a _magic_ high," Papa clarified. "He can't turn his Figure Eyes off. And the guild is full of a lot of bright, caring souls, all in one place."

I stared at the puppet. "Are you telling me that his senses are being overloaded?"

"Pretty much," the puppet hummed. "It's why we dragged him outside. But it hasn't worked."

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "That's because it's not enough. Sorry ahead of time." I said to Bickslow as I grabbed his wrist.

He giggled. "Hehe, Sis what'cha doing…" His voice slurred.

"This," I told him, shoving him into the pool.

Now, shoving someone into a pool will always wake them up pretty well. There's the falling sensations, mixed with the wet sensation.

But I apologized because it was the beginning of December.

" _Shiiiiiiiiit! T-That's…cold…._ " He gasped, pulling himself out of the pool, his eyes no longer glowing.

"You got a lid on it?" I asked him.

He nodded, still shivering, and I used a mix of Mars and Saturn to dry him off.

His hair sparked.

"I'm on fire!" Bickslow shrieked, his arms pinwheeling as he stumbled back and fell back into the pool.

Erik could barely breathe from laughing too hard.

"Sorry about that," I said, hauling Bickslow out of the water. "I'll be more careful, just give me a sec."

Bickslow stared at me, before he slowly nodded. "O-one more t-time," his teeth chattered.

I focused myself and worked on summoning the two different elements. Using two different ones is always more difficult, especially if I'm doing something delicate (rather than just blowing shit up), but I should be able to handle it as long as I _concentrate._

Bickslow's sigh of relief made me look up. He was no longer soaking wet, and his hair was windswept from the warm breeze I made. "Thanks," he said, sheepishly scratching the back of his head.

I sighed. "How the hell did you even get high from magic exposure _anyway_?"

"Well, I checked on you when you were in a coma," Bickslow started. "And you looked all funky. So I was looking at other people more to see if it was you or if my powers were changing, and then I kinda lost it."

"I thought you didn't have problems with this anymore."

"I normally don't," Bickslow admitted. "Imagine…okay, so it's a dark night, right? And there are fireflies. And the fireflies are souls. But there was like a bunch more fireflies than usual, and some looked weird so I put on night vision things or whatever and now I got blind and then forgot that I was wearing the night vision stuff."

I winced but shrugged. It wasn't the _worst_ analogy I've heard when it came to magic.

"Go home, Bickslow," I sighed.

"Aren't you guys revealing the timeline later today?" he whined.

"Yep," Erik chimed in, no longer turning the color of Erza's hair from lack of oxygen. "But you're not gonna get nominated and you know it."

"I'm not?" Bickslow whined, turning to me.

I shook my head. "I highly doubt it. I mean, if Makarov wants to, he could, but I don't think you're anywhere near that level yet."

"She's right," Papa said, causing the other puppets to burst into giggles. "You'd be in over your head."

"Like in the water," Erik snorted, and he laughed as he dodged Bickslow's attempt to shove him into the pool.

"Goodnight, Bickslow," I said, hugging him and stopping his attempts.

He drooped and hugged me back. "Night, Big Sis'. See you, Erik."

Erik lifted a hand goodbye as Bickslow left to head back to the dorms.

"I _knew_ something was going on," he muttered, before sighing and turning to me. "Now what?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Now _I'm_ going to go fix the timeline chart. You're going to go do whatever it is you do."

He drooped.

"Which is moon over Kinana, apparently," I said.

"I do not _moon_."

"Sulk, then."

He didn't have an answer.

I sighed. "Alrighty. No talking until I'm done, but you can watch me adjust the timeline chart, okay?"

"Alright!" he said, grabbing my arm and dragging me back into the building.

I sighed again.

At least he wasn't moping anymore.

* * *

 **So. Important news. One, I now have seriously annoying carpal tunnel. It is not longer extremely painful (thought it was for a few days) and now I do not take off my brace, even sleeping and typing with it on. Hooray.**

 **My update and sleep schedule is _shit_. People who update regularly the same day each day have sold their soul to the devil. Anyway, I'm sorry it's so random. On the bright side, I'm taking three ethic courses for my Philosophy Minor this semester, and we're kicking off with the same base philosophers, so I only need to study one set of guys. So hopefully I won't be as booked soon.**

 **Up next: the S Class Trials! Who do _you_ think will be participating this year?**


	113. S Class, Part One

**Chapter One Hundred and Thirteen – S Class, Part One**

So, Makarov started off the S-Class exams with a _very_ important message as we made our way to Tenrou Island.

"Listen here, brats! Now, we all know we're one of the most powerful guilds around! The world knows it! But there are regulations for S-Class, and if you morons don't start _actually winning_ the trials, then this is gonna build up for a few more years! I got permission for you, _and your partner_ , to both become members of S-Class if you win, which is why you had to team up with someone else who was nominated. But because you, and the rest of your guildmates, will all be over twelve soon, we're gonna have more and more of you every year, and Ooba and Jose are getting on my ass about it and how many people I'm allowed to make S Class a year. You understand me?"

Nods, all around.

He was right, about the more people who'd be strong enough to compete and even with what we already had.

"If we don't win this year, I'll fucking scream," Laxus muttered next to me, but I could tell that he was still worried.

I was kinda annoyed too, actually, that no one had gotten it yet. Maybe this year was the lucky one? Other than Laxus and I, there were only two teams. Erza still wasn't qualified for S Class (she didn't have enough armors and wasn't skilled enough in utilizing them), so Jellal (who _was_ qualified) ended up paired with Ultear this year. Silver had yelled something at Ultear about betrayal, and ended up partnering with Erigor again.

Jellal and Ultear had made a hell of a pair back in the original timeline, and they each had some memories left over, so they'd probably be pretty in sync. And Silver and Erigor had done pretty damn well together last year.

But I had a good feeling this year.

"Also, Elle!" Makarov said.

"What the hell are you singling me out for?" I asked him.

"You can't just teleport to the end of the finish line," Makarov said. "You two need to fight the obstacles and make your way past."

"We know," Laxus and I said, rolling our eyes.

God, you do it _one time_ …

"And your trial starts _now!_ " Makarov shouted.

* * *

When it came to adjusting the timeline chart, Gildarts, Ur and Makarov didn't really move; they were still all in the Wizard Saint column, though Ur and Gildarts were still on the lower half.

SS was still empty, but I had a feeling it wouldn't be by the end of next year.

Lucy hadn't moved up at all from last year (still high S Class) but she was still ahead of herself in the other timeline, and Phoenix and Corvus said it would slow down around now.

Laxus and I had both moved up one; Laxus to high S Class and myself to average S Class. I was joined by Jellal and Brandish, who had also moved up one by last year, from low S Class. Silver also joined us, jumping up two spaces form the previous year.

Cana stayed where she was in the previous year, on low S Class, and was joined by Erigor who finally left the A column, as well as Ultear, who moved up two levels.

Mari, Macao, and Wakaba didn't move at all, but they were joined in the high A Column by Juvia and Erza. Erza was catching up quickly, but she still wasn't quite the force to be reckoned with because of the lack of variety in her armor.

The average A Column was made up of Gray, (who moved one) and Erik and Macbeth (who each moved two).

Something told me that would change next year, too.

Freed and Bickslow didn't move from the lower A column, but they were joined by Macbeth and Lyon, who each moved up one.

Levy, Enno, and Evergreen all stayed in the High B Column, but were joined by Richard, who jumped up one.

Orga and Sorano each jumped up one level, too, from low B to the average spots. They joined Nab, who didn't move this year, and were also joined by Droy, who jumped up two spots from the High C class.

Low B had Jet and Sawyer this year, (who each moved one) and they were joined by Simon, who jumped two levels.

High C contained Reedus, who didn't move, and Kagura, who bumped up two spaces.

Sho, Wally and Millianna all shifted up one, moving Sho from low C to average, and Wally and Millianna from the D column into the low C category.

On a separate paper, I wrote down

 _Gildarts and Ur_

 _Lucy_

 _Cana_

 _Mari, Macao and Wakaba,_

 _Freed and Bickslow_

 _Levy, Evergreen and Enno_

 _Nab_

 _Reedus_

This was the list of people who didn't move up this year. I took off Gildarts, Ur, and Lucy, and looked at who was left. Some of the more powerful guild members decided that they'd help out anyone who was getting stuck with their powers.

(Most people were still learning a Tertiary Magic, anyway).

Now, to add our newcomers.

We all agreed that you had to be five to be added to the chart, if you wanted to (after all, Maggie and Rex and a few others had all chosen to stay out of it.).

Warren was okay with us adding him, as was Max and Laki, and the slayers. Mystogan specifically asked to stay out of it. (I don't blame him).

I put Warren on the low B Class column from the previous timeline, and put him on low C Class for the current timeline.

As for Max and Laki…since we were using the end of the timeline, by late X792, both of them joined Levy in the high B column. I think on a power level, they were on a similar scale to Levy, but the reason Levy was nominated for S Class was because Makarov thought her brains would back her up (which they would). They joined Sho in the average C column of the current timeline.

Last was the slayers.

Of course, this was some of the most difficult parts.

In the previous timeline, Natsu joined the mid-SS Class column, while Gajeel joined the lower SS Column.

Gajeel was not happy about Natsu being higher than him.

Sting and Rogue both ended up in the high S Class column, and Wendy ended up in the low S Class column.

As for where they were now?

Gajeel was added to the low B Column.

Natsu ended up in the high C column (which took away some of his bragging rights about being more powerful than Gajeel. Not that it matters; Laxus knocked them both out not long after because of all the arguing).

Wendy was put in the high D column, and Sting and Rogue were both put in the mid-D column, not at all happy about Wendy surpassing them.

I refrained from telling them 'I told you so'.

Kinana was also added to the list properly. While in the previous timeline she was in high D, she already had a gold pin, because she was in middle C this time around already.

For the list of people who didn't move, I had a talk with the ones who didn't move because of a stop-gap of their age (like Lucy) so they wouldn't get discouraged. I had a different sort of talk with the ones that could get stronger by actually doing something (like Reedus) and came up with some plans.

After discussing with some of the others, the new timeline was unveiled and Makarov had revealed this year's candidates.

Macao and Wakaba were a bit upset they weren't nominated, though Makarov told them it's because they hadn't improved at all, and they were nominated before because Makarov thought they'd be stronger now. Mari wasn't surprised at all.

Apparently she had decided to mostly retire as a mage. She wouldn't be doing jobs anymore, just working around the guild and taking care of the babies. After what she's been through, she just wanted to relax.

She did say that she'd try and stay powerful because of some of the upcoming things (so she can still help fight) but she didn't want to actively go out anymore.

So in the end, there were only the six of us nominated; Me, Laxus, Silver, Erigor, Jellal and Ultear.

* * *

I had grabbed Laxus and teleported us off the boat and to the island. Laxus took a few deep breaths in order to take care of his leftover nausea.

"You want to choose a path?" I asked him.

He looked at me. "Any of your dwarf planets have a connection to Probability Magic?"

I rolled my eyes. "No."

"Okay," Laxus said, thinking. "Can you use Saturn to tell me what's waiting in each paths?"

I closed my eyes and breathed before pointing at the first path. "Okay...so I'm pretty sure there's a demon in that one."

"Wait, what?" Laxus asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, the energy feels…wrong. The second one and the third one…they're both human. I think the second is Gildarts and the third is Ur."

Laxus looked at the second two nervously and eyed the first one with a look of trepidation.

"Should we take the demon?" he asked.

I eyed the tunnels. "We don't know if we're strong enough to overpower the demon. Gildarts and Ur are known possibilities, and while we probably can't magically overpower them, we can still have a plan."

"Elle, the others are going to be here soon," Laxus warned, looking behind us. It was true. Silver and Erigor were riding to the island on wind and ice. Jellal was taking longer, because Ultear couldn't move as quickly, but it seemed like they were able to move along using Meteor in short bursts.

"Alright," I said, grabbing Laxus's hand and dragging him into a tunnel.

" _This one_?" he asked incredulously.

"Don't worry," I smiled at him. "I have a plan."

He stared at me before he mirrored my smile. "Okay."

* * *

There were footsteps as the participants crept closer. They were obviously trying to quiet them, but he could still hear them approach, along with the low murmuring of voices.

The footsteps stopped. It was still dark.

Out of nowhere, a fist formed of electricity and socked Gildarts in the jaw.

* * *

Gildarts stumbled back with a laugh as he looked around wildly. The room wasn't supposed to be that dark; that was my doing. I was using Pluto to cover the room in shadows, and because it was my magic, I could still see clearly. Laxus could still see through it because he's a dragon slayer. Gildarts can't, so he has to rely on his other senses.

"Laxus and Elle," he called giddily. "I was hoping I'd get you two. Well, you guys or Silver. I still need to get back at him. But I was looking forward to a rematch."

We didn't say anything.

"Silent treatment, eh?" Gildarts asked, still giddy. "Alright then. Let's get this party started."

He closed his eyes; probably so he could work on radiating his magical energy. Wizards tend to glow when they centered themselves (or, nowadays, when we'd sync and meditate with music). This would allow him to see.

This time, Gildarts didn't see the attack coming. And yes, I meant see, even though it was dark. I did a Unison Raid with Laxus, sheathing his lightning inside of a protective shadow. The two elements hit Gildarts and threw him back several feet, slamming him into the wall.

"Now we're talking," Gildarts said eagerly, before lighting up. "Let's do this."

He sent out a blast of energy at us.

Laxus went into his lightning form as he concentrated, and I teleported…above Gildarts.

I fell onto his shoulders and jabbed _Venus's Sword_ straight through his head.

Even now, a few years later, it was still a bit weird to adjust to using an intangible sword. The thought that I can stab someone with a sword and that it won't physically hurt them is still odd.

The last time I used Venus's Sword on Gildart's it didn't work for too long. I was a lot more powerful now, and I was working on keeping him still as possible.

" _Dragon Slayer Secret Art_!" Laxus started. His magical energy lit up the entire cave, his eyes glowing a pure color. He put his hands on each of Gildarts' temples. " _Roaring Thunder; Elevated Impulse_."

Laxus told me about this spell awhile back – that he had used it after Lucy, Jellal and I passed out during the Tower of Heaven incident. It was primarily meant to send a signal through all the nerves (which would usually hurt) but Laxus had found a way for it to act similar to Venus's Sword – a way of controlling someone's body.

With a single glance at each other, Laxus and I both concentrated one thought into our spell.

And so Gildarts, frozen, toppled to the ground unconscious.

I threw myself off him before I ended up on the ground in an uncomfortable position. Laxus caught me the best he could, and my hands were splayed out on his chest in order to stop us from accidentally slamming our heads together.

Laxus swallowed, suddenly looking nervous. "Hi."

"Hi," I said, at a loss. God, his eyes were so pretty.

The moment was interrupted by a loud snore from Gildarts mouth.

We both turned to look at him and Laxus slowly put me down.

I kicked Gildarts' foot. "Asshole," I muttered. "You ruined the moment."

Laxus snorted and any tension was lost. "Come on," he said, smiling at me. "Lets win this damn thing."

I smiled back. "Yeah. It 's about damn time."

* * *

 **Sorry it's pretty tiny, guys. Next update should be coming pretty soon, and not just for this one, either. I'm on vacation, and after a few really busy days at Universal (the Marvel section and the HP sections were SO COOL) it's time for me to settle down and relax...and write. :D**


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